The text below was part of a speech by Summers to a World Bank county directors'
retreat. It appears that some things don't ever change for some people. Comments?
"There are two agendas of development -- one of concern and one of hope. Under the
first, more than one billion people are still desperately poor, HIV/AIDS is ravaging
whole countries, the International Development Goals for 2015 look beyond reach., etc.
Under the second, the standard of living of poor countries has doubled and then
doubled again in the last forty years. This is the most significant progress in human
history since the European Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. The Bank has
been leaning too hard towards the agenda of concern rather than the agenda of hope.
"Empowerment. I am skeptical of Bank rhetoric about 'empowerment'. If you mean
education, OK. But that's not very novel. If you mean human development more
generally, including health, that too is understandable but again not very original.
But if you mean generalized improvements in decision-making which give greater weight
to local groups, there is little hard evidence that this will help economically. The
East Asian experience was that strong economic growth led to democracy rather than the
other way around. The Bank should not de-emphasize its analytical role so as to have
direct influence on villages.
"Client-Centered? Officials of democratically elected governments (in Latin America,
for example) are right to object to the Bank's "anointing" civil society
representatives who are probably less representative than they are.
"Emergencies. The Bank should continue to contribute to financial bailouts for
middle-income economies. Times of crisis open unusual opportunities for rapid and
fundamental reforms (such as in banking).
"Global Common Goods. Think of the development impact IDA would have had over the
last ten years if, instead of committing $6-7 bn a year in new lending, it had
committed only $5-6 bn to national projects and devoted $1 bn to agricultural
research, global health issues, curriculum development, etc. To support global
initiatives, the Bank should be willing to step aside and be leveraged for a change
rather than always leveraging others.
"Public Support. The pro-development/anti-poverty constituency in high-income
countries must be protected. It saddens me that the typical middle high school
student in the US is more concerned about dead species than dead children.
Unfortunately, too many carriers of moral energy about development say things which
are dead wrong about markets, growth and globalization. The Bank should stand up for
the fact that we can be hardheaded, rigorously analytical, evaluative of our own
efforts and at the same time deeply caring. The Bank often avoids speaking the truth
for fear of being considered 'non-visionary'. The long-term benefits of bracing
truths are greater -- even in winning over good-hearted groups -- than the short-term
benefits of being expedient.
"Safeguards. As long as everybody tries to be politically correct, the forces of
political correctness (e.g., "All power projects are bad") will grow even stronger.
There should be a cost-benefit analyses on environmental safeguards.
"The Bank needs to get back to basics: Cameroon will be better off in 20 years with 4%
annual growth than with 1-2% growth, even if nothing else happens. The Bank should
not dull its analytical edge in order to promote empowerment and it must keep
defending markets and growth while trying to be 'holistic'.
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Tom Lowe One of the most powerful aspects of
Jackson, Mississippi delusion, or ignorance, is the belief
[EMAIL PROTECTED] that what we do does not really matter
http://www.jacksonprogressive.com -- Sharon Salzberg
