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What should the multilateral development banks do?

Author

Listed:
  • Willem Buiter

    (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development)

  • Steven Fries

    (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development)

Abstract

Their name suggests that the multilateral development banks (MDBs) should provide finance for investments in human and physical capital that promote development. The interpretation of this broad mandate, however, has changed significantly over time. One reassessment occurred when the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was established following the fall of the Berlin Wall and given a mandate to foster the transition to a market economy by investing primarily in private sector projects. Another is ongoing with the strong focus on achieving the international development goals to reduce extreme poverty to one-half its 1990 level by 2015. This paper assesses the role of MDBs in fostering development or transition through the institutional mechanisms that the MDBs possess for the selection, monitoring and enforcement of loans and other financing agreements and through the use of subsidies that they receive from their shareholders and other sources. We conclude that a useful direction for MDB reform is to exploit more effectively the potential complementarities between the public and private sector financing operations. We disagree with the view that the MDBs should become at least in part fiscal agencies for the allocation of grants either for the purpose of international redistribution or for the financing of international public goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Willem Buiter & Steven Fries, 2002. "What should the multilateral development banks do?," Working Papers 74, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Office of the Chief Economist.
  • Handle: RePEc:ebd:wpaper:74
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hefeker, Carsten, 2003. "Handels- und Finanzarchitektur im Umbruch: Globale Integration und die institutionelle Arbeitsteilung von IWF, Weltbank und WTO," HWWA Discussion Papers 225, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    2. William Perraudin & Andrew Powell & Peng Yang, 2016. "Multilateral Development Bank Ratings and Preferred Creditor Status," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 94656, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Jeff Chelsky & Claire Morel & Mabruk Kabir, 2013. "Investment Financing in the Wake of the Crisis," World Bank Publications - Reports 22619, The World Bank Group.
    4. Perraudin, William & Powell, Andrew & Yang, Peng, 2016. "Multilateral Development Bank Ratings and Preferred Creditor Status," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 7686, Inter-American Development Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    multilateral development banks; development; transition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • P33 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - International Trade, Finance, Investment, Relations, and Aid

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