Aid Modalities Matter: The Impact of Different World Bank and IMF Programs on Democratization in Developing Countries

The Impact of World Bank and IMF Programs on Democratization in Developing Countries

We examine whether and under what circumstances World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs affect the likelihood of major government crises. We find that crises are, on average, more likely as a consequence of World Bank programs. We also find that governments face an increasing risk of entering a crisis when they remain under an IMF or World Bank arrangement once the economy's performance improves. The international financial institution's (IFI) scapegoat function thus seems to lose its value when the need for financial support is less urgent. While the probability of a crisis increases when a government turns to the IFIs, programs inherited by preceding governments do not affect the probability of a crisis. This is in line with two interpretations. First, the conclusion of IFI programs can signal the government's incompetence, and second, governments that inherit programs might be less likely to implement program conditions agreed to by their predecessors.

Global health governance and the World Bank

This paper examines whether the economic reforms attached to IMF and World Bank policy-based lending in the Middle East and North Africa have stimulated sustained economic growth. In order to investigate this, we chose four countries to study in depth: Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. These were chosen as they have been put forward by both the IMF and the World Bank as successful reformers who, for prolonged periods, carried out World Bank and IMF guided economic reform programs. We examine the sources of growth during the reform period in these four countries, looking at intensive versus extensive growth, growth in the tradables sector versus the non-tradables sector and growth caused by the reforms versus growth caused by exogenous factors. We discovered that the reform programs in all four countries were associated with spurts of economic growth, but that, apart from Tunisia, this was not sustained, with intensive growth in the tradables sector stimulated by the reform program.

We estimate the impact on economic growth of the joint participation in both IMF and World Bank programs. More specifically, using panel data for 128 developing countries over the period 1982–2005, and employing 2SLS to control for the possible endogeneity of participation in an IMF/World Bank program, we find that the interaction between these two organizations has a positive and significant impact on growth. The paper then opens up interesting new research questions related to investigate further on the effects of Bank–Fund simultaneous action and, to the extent to which their stronger impact on growth may depend on Bank–Fund interaction, also ways to optimize their joint effect through greater cooperation.

Introduction I would like to thank you for the opportunity to discuss with you the World Bank's Program to Accelerate Oil and Gas Production in the Developing Countries. Before discussing the program itself, and the role we see for the World Bank in assisting developing countries to manage their energy resources, I will say a few words about the World Bank. The World Bank The World Bank was established in 1945 following a United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference of 44 Governments at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The International Monetary Fund also was founded as a result of that conference. The World Bank is owned by the governments of 132 countries. It obtains its funds primarily from its own borrowings in the world capital markets, from its net earnings, the flow of repayments of its loans, and also from the paid in capital subscriptions of its member countries. The Bank's first loans were made for post-World War II reconstruction. However, by 1949, the emphasis had shifted to loans for the purpose of economic development. Loans are made directly to governments, to state enterprises, or to private companies, with a government guarantee. The bulk of the World Bank loans have been for specific projects in such sectors as agriculture and rural development, education, electric power, industry, population planning, telecommunications, tourism, urban development and water supply in developing countries.

PurposeThe development of Tanzanian civil society is widely understood to be one of the key processes in the democratization of the country, and this vision is also shared by the World Bank. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the intention and impact of World Bank policies aimed at supporting Tanzanian civil society organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the Lacanian psychoanalytic approach combined with Foucault's notion of governmentality as a conceptual tool. Within this theoretical framework, a specific World Bank programme in Tanzania, the Social Development Civil Society Fund, is analyzed.FindingsDeveloped democratic states produce, through the World Bank, the desires of not‐yet‐fully democratic countries to embrace the benefits that (democratic) development can bring. The World Bank programme aimed at the development of Tanzanian civil society is formulated in a way that posits Tanzania as a not‐yet‐fully democratic country. This is achieved through the World Bank's advice and recommendations, which trigger the desires of Tanzanians to participate in development and thus to achieve (always elusive) prosperity and democracy. Moreover, the World Bank programme can be seen as an ensemble of governmental practices advancing the idea of self‐empowerment through which Tanzanians are made governable.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the understanding of democratic transition, from the perspective of Lacanian psychoanalysis, as a social fantasy that plays a crucial role in the constitution of global hierarchical relationships and in the construction of the identities of so‐called democratic states and not‐yet‐fully democratic countries. Within this scheme, the World Bank's policies are governmental technologies that trigger desires of not‐yet‐fully democratic countries.

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)IntroductionMost often, is viewed in terms of income. People can be considered to live in when they do not have income and other resources required to fulfill the conditions of life such as diets, material, facilities goods and services; this requirement would have made them to play roles and participate in the relationships and traditions of their society (UNDP, 2006). However, it is believed that income gives an inequitable sketch but does not cover the wider standard of living or human development. Poverty is defined by the World Bank as encompassing not only material deprivation (measured by an appropriate concept of income or consumption) but also low achievements in education and health (World Bank, 2000, p. 15; Moser & Ichida, 2001, p. 6). Objectively, alleviation has been the foremost goal of foreign aid inflow. Therefore, foreign aid or assistance on concessional terms is usually transmitted either directly or indirectly through multilateral institutions or private voluntary organizations in order to improve the social and economic development of the developing countries1. Thus, the broad purpose of international aid is to stimulate economic development and alleviation. Initially foreign aid seems to enhance average income in the aid receiving country and then plays role in mitigation (Alvi & Senbeta, 2012). Sachs and McArthur (2001) demonstrated that the targeted aid can help largely to eliminate in developing countries. In a similar study, Connors (2012) points out that the fundamental objectives of foreign aid are to mitigate poverty; these objectives include encouraging economic growth, boosting institutional reform, and decreasing in the developing world. Riddell (2014) provides reasons for providing aid by arguing that foreign aid offered in principle, directly or indirectly will facilitate the improvement of the lives of those people who really need it.Regarding the effectiveness of foreign aid, the literature reveals that it does its work. For example, Arndt et al. (2011) suggest that foreign aid remains an important tool for augmenting the development prospects of poor countries. In a study of the long-term effect of Swedish aid on reduction in three Asian countries, it is concluded that aid has been playing a positive role in Laos and Vietnam, but the results are inconclusive in the case of Sri Lanka (McGillivray et al., 2012). ITAD (2013) reports that the recent sharp decrease in is due to the contribution made by foreign aid funds in Tanzania. The study of Alvi and Senbeta (2012) though shows that foreign aid inflows result in alleviation, however, it does not appear to contribute to economic growth. In a study, Adamu (2013) indicates that foreign aid contributes to economic growth and development through the provision of capital and transfer of technology which boost good governance and practices. In a recent study, Riddell (2014) concludes that in several countries foreign aid has made vital contributions to development and mitigation.Albeit, the most pervasive ambition of donors' foreign aid programs is to largely eliminate in the developing world. In 2013 the statistical data on development aid reveals that it increases by 6.1% in real terms to reach the maximum level ever documented; the donors offer almost US$ 134.8 billion (£80.3 billion) in net ODA and US$128 billion in 2012 (OECD, 2014). The World Bank (2014) shows that our dream is a world free of poverty and to do progressive work in more than 145 client countries that endeavor to mitigate extreme and encourage communal prosperity. The report maintains that in the developing world, almost 21 percent of people live at or below US$ 1.25 a day, while the estimates are 43 percent and 52 percent in 1990 and 1981, respectively. The data reveals that almost a total of 1. …

Outlines policy options for spending on higher-value policies that produce growth, for positioning fiscal policy to protect households against crises, and for raising revenue, then discusses whether better fiscal policy—that is, more progressive fiscal policy that produces higher growth—remains by itself sufficient to meet the current pressing needs by presenting simulations of the likely impacts of dramatically more effective fiscal policy for poverty reduction until 2030. The results reveal that fiscal policy does make a difference and can even reverse, in the most optimistic scenarios, the setback in progress in 2020. However, the simulations also prove sobering because they show that even heroic efforts to put in place better fiscal policy at the national level will not prove enough to get back on track to end extreme poverty. These results highlight the need not just for better national policymaking but also for more global action to end poverty.

Historically, international projects are prone to both endogenous and exogenous risks. And the World Bank international projects and programs are not immune to similar risks. What is important though is the ability of project managers to identify the sources of endogenous and exogenous risks and how to leverage proactive or predictive project risk management strategies. Arguably, predictive project risk management is the lifeline for successful projects and programs. Managing portfolio of risks in international projects is imperative for the World Bank’s mission of economic development and poverty eradication in developing countries. Inability to identify sources of risks attached to projects and programs can contribute to missed opportunities. It can also discourage the World Bank and other international agencies from approving or awarding future development projects and programs. Although in spite of the growing menace of risks in development projects and programs, project managers have little or no knowledge of project risk management. This chapter proposes a multi-attribute decision support approach to model and analyze the risk for the World Bank projects and programs in Nigeria.

Concepts of region and place in geography—physical and human-made—are appraised here. UNESCO and World Heritage Sites (WHS) reinforced by the Council of Europe (CoE), EU and other governmental institutions promote heritage and culture as witnessed in their collaborations, including with NGOs. Work on regional geography and cultural landscape has a long tradition. Such research was often closely allied to work in regional and urban planning and especially so after 1945. With the post-modernist revolution as of the 1970s, there developed a more people-centred approach in Geography, especially regarding concepts of power, democratization and use of space ranging from old concepts of the Commons up to public parks and squares and Geoparks. Now with the aid of GIS, geoinformatics, social media devices, ordinary citizens participate in the discovery and creation of spaces. With globalization, concepts and policies promoted by the UN, including their filtering into World Bank and IMF programs, government and grass-root organizations, there is ever-growing awareness of the need for sustainable development as articulated in the UN SDGs that embraces human rights, good governance and citizenship, and prescriptions for not repeating past mistakes. Therefore, places of memory must include not only positive sites of remembrance to be celebrated, but also darker places such as sites of conscience—to serve as a reminder of the inherent dangers. Not only from hazards including technology as exemplified by the Chernobyl nuclear site disaster (1986), but especially political constructs as with extreme nationalism, dictatorial regimes and populism. In challenging negative legacies of the past typified by the World Wars, the EU construction project has been nurtured in Europe since the 1950s.

Reports that investment growth in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) should remain below its average rate of the past two decades through the medium term. This subdued outlook follows a geographically widespread investment growth slowdown in the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the past two decades, investment growth reflected a strong real output growth, robust real credit growth, terms of trade improvements, growth in capital inflows, and investment environment reform spurts. All of these factors have seen a declining trend since the 2007–09 global financial crisis. Policies to boost investment growth require tailoring to country circumstances but include comprehensive fiscal and structural reforms, including repurposing of expenditure on inefficient subsidies. Given EMDEs’ limited fiscal space, the international community will need to significantly scale up international cooperation and official financing and grants as well as help leverage private sector financing for sufficient investment to materialize.

Work in the field of international development is increasingly geared towards reducing poverty, one of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations dating from the year 2000. In existence since 1999, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) initiative is integrated into this framework. The governments of the poorer developing countries are required to draft PRSPs. This is to be done in consultation with civil society. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank play an advisory role in this context. The papers are to present a coherent national analysis of poverty that takes macro-economic issues into account (Kublbock, 2001). Poverty reduction is thus one of the main objectives of all IMF and World Bank programmes. The World Bank and all other influential international players have incorporated the Education for All campaign into the PRSP initiative. This plan is thus part of poverty reduction strategies. The inclusion of the goals of the Dakar Conference (2000) in the poverty reduction strategies of international organizations opens up new prospects that reach beyond education alone. It is becoming increasingly clear that, while isolated solutions for promoting education may make sense as pilot projects, co-operation as a whole must be placed in an overall framework (Bergmann, 2002). This is true today more than ever before. As part of a refocusing of its sectoral support, the European Commission has taken the important step of placing increased emphasis on the connection between basic education and vocational training. Education and training are given a key role in the fight against poverty (European Commission, 2002a). Emphasis is placed on education for girls and education in rural areas, since the situation there is particularly critical. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) must offer young people occupational alternatives in the formal and informal sectors (European Commission, 2002b). The 2015 Action Programme of the German Government (Germany. Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development—FMECD, 2001) also features a coherent approach to reducing poverty. Poverty reduction has now become the overriding aim of German development co-operation efforts. Activities for

Over the past decade, the international donor community has come up with a range of initiatives to curb governmental corruption in developing countries. Top‐down approaches devise administrative and judicial reforms, whereas bottom‐up approaches deal with the process of awareness—raising in civil society. The World Bank currently integrates these top‐down and bottom‐up approaches in a combined anti‐corruption programme. In this paper, the most recent version of this World Bank's training programme is reconstructed and assessed. Several core approaches in the programme, such as the strengthening of civil society and the privatisation of parastatals, turn out to have unintended consequences. The empirical support is largely case‐specific and turns out to be highly conditional. It is concluded that indicators need to be developed to assess the relevance of national anti‐corruption policies to country‐specific governance and anti‐corruption conditions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article attempts to evaluate the World Bank's programme aid in the form of Structural Adjustment Loans with emphasis on the distinction between the influence of programme finance and the influence of the policy conditions attached to this finance. The rate of return on World Bank programme aid, measured in terms of the impact of GDP growth rates, is found to have been disappointing. The study also identifies a negative correlation between Structural Adjustment Loans and investment. It was also found that the Bank programme aid's strongest beneficial effect has been on the balance of payments current account, both via the stimulation of exports and via the curbing of imports.