Multilateralism
In the latest edition of Development Drums, Rakesh Rajani and Martin Tisné discuss accountability and open government.
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Europe’s approach to development could be characterized as energetically tackling the symptoms of poor economic opportunities for developing countries by providing substantial and effective aid, while doing relatively little to tackle the underlying structural causes of poverty.
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I recently tried to explain to a parliamentary committee why I believe multilateral aid is likely to be more cost-effective than bilateral aid. This post sets out the arguments in a bit more detail.
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The full text of an article in Europe's World by Stephanie Majerowicz and me, commenting on an article by José Antonio Ocampo about the future of the World Bank.
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Diane Coyle talks on the latest edition of Development Drums about her book The Economics of Enough
Britain's National Audit Office (NAO) has published a glowing report on the British Multilateral Aid Review. There are three lessons: the aid review increased aid effectiveness; was hampered by poor data; and will more effective if donors collaborate.
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On Friday the Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will decide who will be the Bank’s next President. I've interviewed four of the candidates and the interviews are now online for you to listen to, and you can read the transcript here.
Continue readingThe UK has repeatedly said that it favours merit-based appointments of the heads of the World Bank and IMF. It is also a leading advocate for transparency and accountability in development. Now it can live up to both these commitments. The average British family contributes more than £30 a year to the World Bank and they are entitled to hold the British government to account for the choices that the British government makes about how it is managed.
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Nominations for the head of the World Bank have now closed, and there are three candidates:
- Jim Kim, nominated by the United States; President of Dartmouth College, former head of HIV at the World Health Organization, and a founder… Continue reading
On Friday the World Bank London office had a meeting on ‘the Future of Aid’. The meeting was, according to the tortuous language of the invitation, “conducted in an informal manner with interested stakeholders from governments, civil society,… Continue reading
Primary school close to our house in Addis Ababa
Living in Ethiopia for the last three years, I saw aid working every day. I saw children going to school, health workers in rural villages, and food or cash preventing hunger… Continue reading
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been accused of a horrible crime. Like everyone else he is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
We may, however, soon find ourselves looking for a new Managing Director of the IMF,… Continue reading
Paul Collier’s last book, The Bottom Billion, proposed that there are four “traps” in which the poorest countries can become enmeshed (a conflict trap, resource trap, geography trap and governance trap). He vividly explains why he thinks… Continue reading
Tim Harford at the FT has an article in today’s FT weekend magazine which endorses the ideas in my recent working paper, Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid.
I’m envious of Tim’s ability to express the… Continue reading
My new working paper, Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid is on the Center for Global Development website in the innovations in aid series.
In the paper I argue that more planning and coordiation among donors will not… Continue reading
Because everyone is so concerned with the financial situation, little attention has been paid to the other aspects of the World Bank and IMF meetings last weekend.
The Development Committee Communique says:
An additional Board seat for sub Saharan Africa… Continue reading
Not according to Blake Lambert and Wendy Glauser who write about Canadian NGOs:
Part of the reason NGOs have difficulty meeting their overall goals is that they often end up measuring day-to-day results rather than long-term progress. As Andrew Mwenda,… Continue reading
The Government has consistently refused to set up a statutory inquiry into the way that many thousands of haemophiliacs were put at risk by the supply of contaminated blood products. (The new inquiry by Lord Archer of Sandwell is an… Continue reading
Among some bloggers (such as Tim Worstall), and now on the BBC, it is becoming fashionable to say that Nicholas Stern's analysis of the economics of climate change overstates the case for intervention to prevent climate change, because… Continue reading
Owen Barder is the Europe Director at the Center for Global Development. He writes here about development, economics, politics, computers, running, and anything else that interests him. He also hosts Development Drums.
Tax, trade, transparency … & turfApril 23, 2013
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For the first time ever (World Bank edition)April 19, 2013
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The Europe Development DigestApril 16, 2013
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Are rich countries ‘getting away with murder’ by massaging aid figures?April 11, 2013
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Global wealth inequalityApril 8, 2013
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Waste not, want notApril 1, 2013
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Hello Owen, Stumbled on your website by accident…I’m currently trying to arange a visa for someone I work...May 16, 2013
Dear Biniam, Please refere to the following link. http://www.ethiotelecom.et/new s/news.php?id=85April 25, 2013
Hi all, I have the expereiance that blackberry phones will not work directly with the Ethio-telecom GPRS...April 25, 2013
Hi! The service provider in Ethiopia, Ethio – Telecom states the APN settings are the following: APN : etc.com...April 9, 2013
Interesting ideas, I wrote some thoughts on them here,April 24, 2013
”Today for the first time ever, I felt so relieved after I realized I wasn’t looking out making...April 19, 2013
Barack Obama (2/2013): “So the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme poverty in...April 19, 2013
Owen: Where are we going with this? Is this a refutation of the power law of wealth distribution?April 10, 2013
Hey Abita check out my website as I may need a guide like you to help me run bike tours there, we just did...April 5, 2013
Hey Jeff enjoy the riding there–I have run several bike tours there out of Toronto and I love riding...April 5, 2013
Hi guys I totally disagree with your assessment of the children. I have ridden from Adiss to Lalibela 5...April 5, 2013
Hi Owen The long format works well for me because (like Robb) I enjoy getting into the substance and...April 1, 2013