O'Neill: "WB has driven poor countries into a ditch"

[Brad DeLong]

>Vikash Yadav wrote:
>
>>I would rather reform the World Bank than destroy it.  Where will the
>>concessional loans for development come from if these institutions are
>>destroyed?  (I am not convinced by those who believe that development aid is
>>the problem, as their target seems to be corruption but they still have no
>>solution for actually addressing poverty alleviation).
>
>The WB isn't entirely a bad thing, but it mostly is. It lends 
>largely for export-oriented projects, which means satisfying the 
>needs of foreign markets before domestic populations

And how are countries to get the hard currency to buy the 
western-made capital goods that embody so much technology? The 
problem with the WB projects is not that they are export-oriented, 
but that the WB is a lousy judge of what export-oriented projects 
would be successful...

Brad DeLong