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World Bank Operations Evaluation Department
About the Operations Evaluation Department of the World Bank from 1973 to 2003.
Borrower Ownership of Adjustment Programs and the Political Economy of Reform
China has done much to reform its price system, achieve macroeconomic stability, and restore growth. Nevertheless, price distortions remain in three key areas. This study suggests further price reforms for the energy, grain, and transport sectors. It explains why energy price adjustments should have only a modest effect on consumer prices, but a highly positive effect on the economy. It discusses why China may have to reduce consumer subsidies to achieve the necessary reforms for grain prices. The study describes what the government must do to strengthen commodity markets, generate competition, and make allowances for seasonal price variations. China's transport sector has been a critical development bottleneck. The paper reviews tariff adjustments and other reforms that would modernize the transport system and help it meet growing demand. These reforms also would encourage energy conservation and help integrate the national economy.
Proceedings of a Conference on Currency Substitution and Currency Boards
Eighteen well-known policymakers and economists discuss the rising use of currency substitution in Latin America. They examine the effects of currency boards on substitute currencies and on national stabilization programs. Latin American countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Uruguay increasingly use dollars as a substitute for domestic currency. The experts debate whether the region should encourage or resist this trend. Topics include the effects of substitution on inflation, liquidity, and exchange rates. The discussions on Argentina, Peru, and Brazil focus on the ways in which currency boards have affected stabilization in these countries. They consider whether such boards can strengthen fiscal discipline and speed economic adjustment. A currency board issues money that is converted into a foreign reserve currency at a fixed exchange rate. This independent institution takes over the central bank's role as the sole issuer of base money. It also manages the exchange rate to keep the currency stable and convertible.
Information Technology in World Bank Lending
This study describes a strategy to reduce poverty by boosting labor productivity and economic growth. It focuses on Uganda's two key sectors, agriculture and industry. The strategy seeks to make Uganda a self-sufficient food producer and a major crop exporter. It also advocates policies that would make the nation less dependent on imports and better at marketing its own products. Some suggestions include ways to improve labor markets, raise agricultural output, and broaden the tax base. Other recommendationsdiscuss ways to develop the financial sector and spur savings and investment. Also examined are the government's economic adjustment policies and their effects on the poor. Analysts point out the different ways that poverty affects men and women. The study also discusses how to increase public funds for social services that would improve the labor force. It recommends policies that will help women become full partners in Uganda's development. Tables and other illustrations throughout the text provide detailed statistics on Uganda's economic status. Topics include crop yields, poverty indicators, gross domestic product, and public sector expenses.
Multilateral Banks and the Development Process
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When the links in the chain represent development projects, if individual projects fail to achieve their purpose, the development program's effectiveness is compromised. When the chain's links are strong and well-connected, the results are improved for the sector, country, and region. The role of multilateral banks is crucial; they inform the impact of development operations and support policymakers in decision making. This volume emphasizes that some crucial links in development tend to be systematically overlooked. In these matters, preoccupation with the immediate exigencies seems to come at the expense of attention to enduring problems-at a great cost to society. Development practitioners should apply policies that have produced results over time, ensuring that the links in the chain are strong, but too often they overlook those links-because of myopia, complexity, tradition, or special interests. This book will help policy makers and practitioners focus on the links that measure progress, apply lessons, and matter for lasting results.
What We Know about Acquisition of Adult Literacy
World Bank Discussion Paper 245. Experience shows that literacy levels are much more easily raised in children than in adults. Literacy is not easily transmitted to adults, and skills of neoliterates are not stable--a problem which can lower the ef
Institutional Options for the Provision of Infrastructure
This paper explains why tough public sector reform and a sound macroeconomy are essential to sustained growth. It provides a strategy to help countries evaluate how well their governments' policies work. Decisionmakers will learn ways to build an evaluations program that can make governments more accountable and improve their performance. Some options could include making central banks independent, eliminating earmarked funds, and balancing the national budget. The author suggests which government offices should oversee and develop evaluation policies to get the best results, and explains why evaluation results must be linked with all budget decisions. He describes the political and economic environment that allows the evaluation process to develop freely. Also discussed is the role that the World Bank and other insti- tutions should play in supporting evaluation programs. The study examines how sound evaluation can lead to more consistent international policies and better international governance.
Redesigning the World Trade Organization for the Twenty-first Century
Two high-level commissions—the Sutherland report in 2004, and the Warwick Commission report in 2007—addressed the future of the World Trade Organization and made proposals for incremental reform. This book goes further; it explains why institutional reform of the WTO is needed at this critical juncture in world history and provides innovative, practical proposals for modernizing the WTO to enable it to respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century. Contributors focus on five critical areas: transparency, decision- and rule-making procedures, internal management structures, participation by non-governmental organizations and civil society, and relationships with regional trade agreements. Co-published with the International Development Research Centre and the Centre for International Governance Innovation
Development of Rural Financial Markets to Sub-Saharan Africa
World Bank Environment Paper 6. Here is a holistic approach to analyzing the environmental impact of various power systems. Unlike standard impact studies that begin at the project level, this method calls for environmental assessments that start at the planning stage of a national framework for energy policymaking. The framework would take into account the energy needs of Sri Lanka's total economy. It also would make it easier to incorporate environmental goals into power sector decisionmaking at the critical investment stage. Sri Lanka's development options for the power sector are reviewed in detail. Topics include alternative ways to assess the economic value of a power plant's impact on biodiversity, human health, and air and water pollution. The study also assesses which energy planning options work best and recommends ways in which the Ceylon Electricity Board can improve its environmental policies.
Price Stabilization for Raw Jute in Bangladesh
The costs of the present system of price stabilization of raw jute by Bangladesh's public sector do not yield the expected benefits. Price stabilization could be better handled by the private sector. In any case, the loss of welfare to jute growers from price fluctuations is small.
