Download or read book Reforming the Governance of the IMF and the World Bank written by Ariel Buira and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The papers included in this book cover different aspects of the governance of the Bretton Woods institutions. They explore different options for reform and show that enhancing the participation of developing and emerging market countries in resolving the major monetary and financial problems confronting the world economy, would improve global economic performance and contribute to the elimination of world poverty.
Download or read book Reforming the World Bank written by David A. Phillips and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-30 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains why the World Bank has not achieved substantive efficiency or effectiveness in delivering economic assistance.
Download or read book Reforming Education Finance in Transition Countries written by Juan Diego Alonso and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reviews the experience with one specific though widely introduced approach to funding general education, namely per capita financing (PCF), in six countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region in an effort to learn which outcomes were achieved and how. Six country case studies are the bulk of the book and were chosen as a project that the World Bank initiated back in 2007. The set of countries chosen (Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and the Russian Federation) was motivated by the fact that the World Bank was actively involved in supporting reforms in these countries and, in some cases, played a fundamental role in bringing these reforms to fruition. The hope is that, as a result, the likelihood of observing the outcomes of per capita financing is higher. An attempt was made at geographic variation across the ECA region as well. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the book. Chapters 2 through 7 discuss the country case studies. The case studies are presented in alphabetical order: Armenia (chapter 2), Estonia (chapter 3), Georgia (chapter 4), Lithuania (Chapter 5), Poland (Chapter 6), and Russia (chapter 7). All six chapters present a similar structure. First, an introduction is provided to motivate the discussion. Second, the historical background to the introduction of the PCF system is discussed. Third, the design of the PCF scheme is analyzed. Fourth, the peculiarities of the implementation of the scheme are described. Fifth, an assessment of a set of three main outcomes - efficiency, equity and transparency/accountability - is presented. A sixth and final section provides a summary of the lessons learned in each of the cases. Chapter 8 presents an in-depth overview of the case studies, within a common framework to compare these experiences.
Download or read book Reforming Agriculture written by Jacob Meerman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ... Evaluates the World Bank's experience with the fifty agricultural adjustment operations (agsecals) approved ... since 1979 and reflects the impact on Bank programming of a worldwide shift in the development paradigm--P. [i].
Download or read book Change and Continuity at the World Bank written by Peter J. Hammer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating book examines the World BankÕs capacity for change, illustrating the influence of overlapping political, organizational and epistemic constraints. Through comprehensive historical and economic analysis, Peter J. Hammer illuminates the difficulties faced by recent attempts at reform and demonstrates the ways in which the training and socialization of Bank economists work to define the policy space available for meaningful change. The author examines the patterns of change and continuity at the World Bank during the presidencies of James Wolfensohn (1995Ð2005), Paul Wolfowitz (2005Ð2007) and Robert Zoellick (2007Ð2012) and discusses the role that various Chief Economists have played in the evolution of the BankÕs research activities. His analysis of Bank reforms Ð both successful and unsuccessful Ð demonstrates how neoclassical economics sets the BankÕs research and development agendas and limits reform possibilities derived from different academic traditions. This clear and balanced account is an important case study in the role that epistemic constraints can play in the formation of public policy, with implications for both the World Bank and other international organizations. Students, professors and researchers with an interest in economic development, institutional economics and policy studies will find it an invaluable resource, as will government officials and practitioners working in international development.
Download or read book Reforming Infrastructure written by Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.
Download or read book Public Sector Reform written by World Bank. Independent Evaluation Group and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effectiveness and efficiency of a country's public sector is vital to the success of development activities, including those the World Bank supports. Sound financial management, an efficient civil service and administrative policy, efficient and fair collection of taxes, and transparent operations that are relatively free of corruption all contribute to good delivery of public services. The Bank has devoted an increasing share of its lending and advisory support to the reform of central governments, so it is important to understand what is working, what needs improvement, and what is missing. IEG has examined lending and other kinds of Bank support in 1999-2006 for public sector reform in four areas: public financial management, administrative and civil service, revenue administration, and anticorruption and transparency. Although a majority of countries that borrowed to support public sector reform experienced improved performance in some dimensions, there were shortcomings in important areas and in overall coordination. - The frequency of improvement was higher among IBRD borrowers than among IDA borrowers. - Performance usually improved for public financial management, tax administration, and transparency, but did not usually with respect to civil service. - Direct measures to reduce corruption-- such as anticorruption laws and commissions-- rarely succeeded.
Download or read book Civil Service Reform and the World Bank written by Barbara Nunberg and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation Surveys the World Bank's experience in supporting developing country civil service reforms and begins to assess the progress made. The World Bank recognizes the importance of the civil service to the general welfare of the 4.6 billion people in low and middle income countries. Between 1981 and 1991, civil service reform was a prominent feature of 90 World Bank lending operations. This paper surveys the Bank's experience in supporting this reform and assesses the progress made. The lending operations concentrated on two separate dimensions: (1) Shorter-term, emergency steps to reform public pay and employment policies, which center on measures to contain the cost and the size of the civil service (2) longer-term civil service strengthening efforts directed toward ongoing, sustained management improvements. After examining the record of these reforms, the authors conclude that the results have been mixed at best. They recommend greater emphasis on devising a coherent, far-reaching strategy for reform and on detailing the set of tactics by which these goals will be achieved.
Download or read book Reforming the Investment Climate written by Sunita Kikeri and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes the administrative, political and technical challenges involved in passing and implementing investment climate reforms in developing countries. Drawing on more than 25 case studies, the authors emphasize the role of international bench-marking in triggering reform, the importance of pilot projects for policy learning and experimentation and the need to treat implementation and monitoring as an integral part of the reform process and not merely as an afterthought
Download or read book Reforming Public Institutions and Strengthening Governance written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The critical importance of well-performing public institutions and good governance for development and poverty reduction has come to the forefront in the 1990s. Reforming public institutions is a complex and difficult task. This publication is primarily intended as a guide for World Bank staff but it is also intended to serve the broader development community. It outlines a strategy which envisions significant changes in the focus of the Bank's work in this area. Some of these changes such as an enhanced focus on governance, capacity building and anticorruption, are already underway. The agenda for the next three years is to continue to foster these changes through a the advancement of analytical tools, new approaches t the design of lending operations, expanded emphasis on partnership with clients and other donors and progressive shifts in staffing, incentives and evaluation techniques. Included as an annex is an inventory of the Bank's governance and institutional reform programs which are in place.
Download or read book Reforming Urban Land Policies and Institutions in Developing Countries written by Catherine Farvacque and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1992 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper attempts to define and assess the various institutional and mechanical elements which constitute a land management system and which have a significant impact on the functioning of land markets. The assumption of this report is that the accumulation over time of different institutions and instruments, which have relfected different priorities and policies, has inhibited the efficient and equitalbe operation of land markets and that reforms of institutions and policies are now urgently needed. (Adapté du résumé des auteurs).
Download or read book Fighting Corruption in Public Services written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book chronicles the anti-corruption reforms in public services in Georgia since the Rose Revolution in late 2003. Through a series of case studies, the book draws out the how of these reforms and distills the key success factors.
Download or read book Healthy China Deepening Health Reform in China written by The World Bank;World Health Organization and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report recommends that China maintain the goal and direction of its healthcare reform, and continue the shift from its current hospital-centric model that rewards volume and sales, to one that is centered on primary care, focused on improving the quality of basic health services, and delivers high-quality, cost-effective health services. With 20 commissioned background studies, more than 30 case studies, visits to 21 provinces in China, the report proposes practical, concrete steps toward a value-based integrated service model of healthcare financing and delivery, including: 1) Creating a new model of people-centered quality integrated health care that strengthens primary care as the core of the health system. This new care model is organized around the health needs of individuals and families and is integrated with higher level care and social services. 2) Continuously improve health care quality, establish an effective coordination mechanism, and actively engage all stakeholders and professional bodies to oversee improvements in quality and performance. 3) Empowering patients with knowledge and understanding of health services, so that there is more trust in the system and patients are actively engaged in their healthcare decisions. 4) Reforming public hospitals, so that they focus on complicated cases and delegate routine care to primary-care providers. 5) Changing incentives for providers, so they are rewarded for good patient health outcomes instead of the number of medical procedures used or drugs sold. 6) Boosting the status of the health workforce, especially primary-care providers, so they are better paid and supported to ensure a competent health workforce aligned with the new delivery system. 7) Allowing qualified private health providers to deliver cost-effective services and compete on a level playing field with the public sector, with the right regulatory oversight, and 8) Prioritizing public investments according to the burden of disease, where people live, and the kind of care people need on a daily basis.
Download or read book Lessons of Tax Reform written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1991-01-01 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reform and Growth written by R. Kyle Peters and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-04 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the quest for growth remains as elusive as it was more than a decade ago, there is now much greater consensus on the policies and institutional changes that are needed to foster growth and economic development. But debate continues on the timing, sequencing, and local adaptation of these reforms. Furthermore, although the benefits of reform are well documented--the reasons as to why and when reforms occur still remain somewhat unclear. Many countries go through long periods of stagnation or even decline, without being able to create an environment for change, while others seem able to break the hold of vested interests and start following paths of reform.In October 2004, the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) of the World Bank held a conference on the Effectiveness of Policies and Reform. This event provided a forum at which participants--over 500 government officials, civil society representatives, and World Bank staff--could discuss how to improve the effectiveness of World Bank support for development policies and reform programs.Included in this volume are the contributions of distinguished development practitioners on issues such as: the links between good performance and policy change; how windows of opportunity can best be used to promote reform; how ownership of policies and reform programs can be encouraged; and how developed country policies can be improved to create a better global environment for development.
Download or read book The World Bank and Governance written by Diane L. Stone and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-09-27 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book offers the first critical examination of World Bank policy reforms and initiatives during the past decade. The World Bank is viewed as one of the most powerful international organizations of our time. The authors critically analyze the influence of the institution’s policy and engagement during the past decade in a variety of issue areas, including human rights, domestic reform, and the environment. The World Bank and Governance delves into the bowels of the World Bank, exploring its organizational structure, professional culture and bureaucratic procedures, illustrating how these shape its engagement with an increasingly complex, diverse and challenging operational environment. The book includes chapters on two under-researched divisions of the World Bank: the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. Several illuminating country studies are also included, analyzing the World Bank's activities in Argentina, Bolivia, Lebanon, Hungary and Vietnam. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, development, politics and economics.
Download or read book Multilateral Development written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
