Cap in Hand (The Economist)

The Economist quotes CGD president Nancy Birdsall on the multilateral development banks.

From the article:

"Fine-tuning their demands and pushing further on institutional reform will probably ensure that no MDB is denied cash, even if the politics are likely to be messy all around. But Nancy Birdsall, a former senior official at both the IDB and the World Bank, thinks a more fundamental reorientation is needed. Although these institutions have begun to place greater emphasis on measurable results, she argues, their focus is on pushing money out. The percentage of the IDB’s projects whose impact was rigorously evaluated doubled between 2005 and 2009, but only to 14%. Changing that would be an excellent use of a once-in-a-generation crisis."

Read the article