An online poll by the Guardian Newspaper: Who should be the next president of the World Bank?
Author Archives: A Bank Insider
“The World Bank presidency should not be an apprenticeship”
Jagdish Bhagwati takes on Obama in an opinion article published by Project Syndicate. He starts his argument saying:
“What .. does Obama’s choice tell us about the sincerity of his feminist rhetoric? Does he draw the line wherever it suits him? In fact, if Obama and his advisers could not stomach Okonjo-Iweala on the ground that she is not American, surely they could have nominated an American woman who was also vastly superior to Kim for the job.” Suggesting that Laura Tyson, who chaired the President’s Council of Economic Advisers under Bill Clinton, or Lael Brainard, who is now Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs would have been a better choice.
He goes on to add “.. it is the rapid acceleration of economic growth in the major emerging countries that has reduced poverty, not only directly, through jobs and higher incomes, but also by generating the revenues governments need to undertake the public-health, education, and other programs that sustain poverty reduction – and growth – in the long term. India followed this path. So did Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – after the reforms undertaken by his predecessor produced the revenues that could then be spent on programs to aid the poor further.”
“Whose World Bank?”
Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and former Chief Economist of the World Bank weights in the debate with an opinion piece in Project Syndicate:
“Should America continue to insist on controlling the selection process, it is the bank itself that would suffer. For years, its effectiveness was compromised because it was seen, in part, as a tool of Western governments and their countries’ financial and corporate sectors. Ironically, even America’s Continue reading
Former World Bank senior managers send an open letter to the Board
As reported earlier today by the AFP, “In an open letter, 39 former managers and economists called on the Bank’s executive board to make their decision on merit, when the board considers more than one candidate for the job for the first time.”
Here is the letter in full: Continue reading
Ngozi calls for a televised debate
In an interview published today in the New York Times, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls for a televised debate between the three candadetes for the position of President of the World Bank:
” I think the media should call for a debate of the three candidates, like you have for other important positions, to see who really knows what they are doing. Let’s all of us have a televised debate showing the world what we can do, so people can judge for themselves who is the most qualified to lead.”