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World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World

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According to The World Bank the state is under attack. Its freedom in policy-making is being circumscribed by globalization and its dominion in the domestic arena is being challenged on many fronts. New technology and accumulated governmental failure have pulled the private sector into many
areas which were considered the preserve of the state, and non-governmental organizations have intervened to deliver services better, faster, and cheaper than the state bureaucracy.
Known as the standard reference for international economic data, the twentieth annual edition of the World Development Report focuses on the role of the state in a changing world. As in the past, a set of Selected World Development Indicators are provided as an appendix to the Report , presenting
social and economic statistics for more than 200 countries.
Moving well beyond basic economics, the Report deals with the challenging issue of political economy and institutional reform, moving from the what and why of reform to the when and how. The World Bank asserts that there is a rich record of state sector reform, but there are few tested rules. And
because the structure of the state is also changing, issues of fiscal federalism have been brought to the forefront of the policy debate in the context of assertive regional and local authorities. The World Bank has worked on many of theses issues and has accumulated a wealth of operational
experience. It will now mobilize its resources to gain even more knowledge. The World Bank also plans to collaborate with several national and international agencies, building partnerships to address the tough practical questions of selectivity and implementation.
The information in the Report will be used to explore on-going research from the Department of Economics at The World Bank, which examines issues of efficacy and efficiency in public expenditures and addresses the role of public management and the organization of civil service. Perhaps most
important, the Report will have major implications for The World Bank and the donor community more generally as they collectively try to help countries find the right balance between public and private action and define the scope, modality, and organization of public management and
responsibility.

265 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 1997

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World Bank Group

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The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and most famous development bank in the world and is an observer at the United Nations Development Group. The bank is based in Washington, D.C. and provided around $61 billion in loans and assistance to "developing" and transition countries in the 2014 fiscal year. The bank's stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity. Its five organizations are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

The World Bank's (the IBRD and IDA's) activities are focused on developing countries, in fields such as human development (e.g. education, health), agriculture and rural development (e.g. irrigation and rural services), environmental protection (e.g. pollution reduction, establishing and enforcing regulations), infrastructure (e.g. roads, urban regeneration, and electricity), large industrial construction projects, and governance (e.g. anti-corruption, legal institutions development). The IBRD and IDA provide loans at preferential rates to member countries, as well as grants to the poorest countries. Loans or grants for specific projects are often linked to wider policy changes in the sector or the country's economy as a whole. For example, a loan to improve coastal environmental management may be linked to development of new environmental institutions at national and local levels and the implementation of new regulations to limit pollution, or not, such as in the World Bank financed constructions of paper mills along the Rio Uruguay in 2006.

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