As for World Bank employees not liking Sachs, that will certainly be a problem. If he is going to shake up the Bank’s standard approach, surely there will be a lot of resistance and not just because of the Millenium Village project. Such friction will be most productive.

It will certainly be good for the World Bank to be led by a guy who truly believes that dire poverty can be entirely eliminated from the face of the earth.

Bill Clinton is an interesting choice – if he would take it, I could imagine him being extremely effective. He’s got such a positive reputation globally at this point that he would be motivated to do a great job, and he is smart enough in all of the right ways that might actually do a great job.

The article in which “Sachs” lobbies to work at the World Bank must surely have been a witty plant by The Onion. Sachs himself is not THAT stupid, is he?

On the other hand, my wife (Senegalese entrepreneur Magatte Wade) told me this morning that the anecdotes she wrote about in the article below are only part of the story, that there were additional incidents she had with Sachs & Co. before the incidents described here,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/magatte-wa de/does-jeffrey-sachs-believ_b_217785.ht ml

If Sachs was actually appointed head of the World Bank, he could probably manage to anoint himself as the most hated World Bank president in history.

Larry Summers isn’t too suitable at this point either. But at least he had work experience in academia, industry, government AND I believe he even did a stint at the World Bank in the past.

There are many more suitable candidates than Jeffrey Sachs though. Felix is correct that the position has a significant diplomatic aspect. William Easterly would be a better choice. Plenty of others too.

“Sachs’ ‘shock therapy’ was introduced in only one East European country more less as he had proposed – Poland, then a highly indebted basket case of communist economy. Since 1990 it has been one of the fastest growing European countries and in the last 3 years the only European Community country not plunged into recession. Calling his reforms “complete disaster” shows only how ignorant Mr. Salmon is.”

Mr. Salmon has made a career out of saying ignorant, disingenuous and just plain wrong things with supreme confidence and arrogance for years. It’s his schtick.

Jeffrey David Sachs (pronounced /ˈsæks/; born November 5, 1954, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

and,

Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist. He served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

Send William Easterly to the World Bank.

I guess they will both be turning 58 in November of this year.

LadyGodiva is correct. They are pompous American economists in their ["late"] 50s.

I strongly agree with Nick_Gogerty. The appointment of Bill Easterly to head the World Bank would be fantastically good news.

Same gender, same profession, same age, same nationality — sigh.

But at least he has his head in the right place and his brilliant mind is not just media management and public relations — or friends on Wall Street opening doors for him.

She is not a development economist, but Christine Romer did a very credible job at the Council of Economic Advisors, where she was right more than wrong and diplomatic in the extreme.

Or, if you really like former heads of state, I hear that Hillary’s husband has some time on his hands.

The World Bank does a lot of good, but there is a lot badly executed stuff there. Sachs is the wrong man. Send William Easterly instead.