Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
On Tuesday, the World Bank announced the launch of a new database to characterize the quality and composition of the public sector in 115 countries. At this point, you might be thinking: “Who decided that we needed another country-level index?” Fear not!
Last week the World Bank Board closed the three-week window, announced in late August, for member countries to nominate candidates for the presidency of the World Bank. Jim Kim, the US nominee and incumbent since his election in 2012, was formally nominated by the United States at 12:01 a.m. at the opening bell, so to speak. He is the sole candidate in what appears to have been a kind of insider coup by the United States (called a “charade” in a World Bank Staff Association letter to its members) of the procedures agreed by World Bank members in 2011.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry's recent speech at the World Bank hit all the right notes—and may have set World Bank management back on its heels a bit. Sen. Kerry expressed frank views, especially on increasing the voice of developing countries in Bank governance and on the Bank's role in addressing climate change.
Last week, the World Bank released the long-awaited report of a high-level commission headed by former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo. The report, which had been requested by World Bank president Robert Zoellick, offers a comprehensive blueprint for modernizing the World Bank to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century.
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