Comments on: The ideal nominee for World Bank president

By: Abulili

Abulili — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:56:34 +0000

FifthDecade, that clarifies, thanks. I would suggest that while education is indeed paramount, “the way forward” in eliminating corruption, as you suggest, is not just education, but a firm grounding in ethics. That is arguably even harder to achieve, but may be driven locally and rely less on foreign tutoring, which should restrict itself to technical assistance if certain conditions (in terms of accountability and cooperation) are met.

By: FifthDecade

FifthDecade — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:51:36 +0000

@ Abulili OK, you got me, I was being slightly mischievous here! It would be good if 3rd world corruption could be cleaned up, and certainly the influence the World Bank has had over the last 30 years on insisting loans are tied to charging for education has made a significant contribution to how ignorant many of the world’s poor are today, so by the same logic, maybe getting someone in from the 3rd world as boss of the WB to fight corruption might end up actually having the opposite effect too.

I was basically disagreeing with Felix… but it was rather subtle, I admit.

By: crocodilechuck

crocodilechuck — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:18:33 +0000

Alea and Danny_Black above: +1

By: Bernanke

Bernanke — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:04:33 +0000

A 2000 word answer to a simple question? Sounds like she talks too much.

By: SamVaghar

SamVaghar — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:23:04 +0000

Felix,
Insightful piece, and I strongly believe Jeffrey Sachs is the best fit for the post. He has made invaluable contributions at the international level (through the UN, WB, Global Fund), and I can think of no one who will add more to the World Bank as a convener and visionary. I hope he receives the US nomination.

By: worm600

worm600 — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:55:09 +0000

Felix,

If Ngozi is such a great candidate, why can’t the US simply agree on a non-American like her and call it a day? They get a solid President, win kudos for not pushing the issue for reasons of vanity, and everyone goes home happy.’

Honest question – it doesn’t seem like something you contemplate in the above.

By: Abulili

Abulili — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:26:42 +0000

Fifth Decade, I have huge respect for your comments, but this one left me puzzling: “There’s too much corruption in developing countries so a good candidate from that sector who could clean it up could be good”. What makes you think a WB president, from a developing country or otherwise, “could clean it up”? Do we have any solid evidence of corruption fighting measures not entirely driven from a domestic constituency being successful, much less those insisted upon by a development agency? Especially given the board of this particular development agency?

By: FifthDecade

FifthDecade — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:58:13 +0000

There’s too much corruption in developing countries so a good candidate from that sector who could clean it up could be good; on the other hand, you run the risk of promoting one of the sympathisers of that cockeyed status quo.

Whoever the person eventually in post, I hope they lose this counter-developmental requirement for aid to depend on children paying for their education, a rule insisted on by the US decades ago the results of which have been less education and more turmoil in Africa. It could also be argued it results in more child labour, lower literacy, and has given an opening to Africa for the Chinese way of doing things.

Education is the way forward, ignorance and ideology are backward looking and should be rejected out of hand.

By: Abulili

Abulili — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:16:14 +0000

I might have missed it from a previous post by Felix – but what should be the agenda of the ideal WB president, according to Felix? And in what way would Ngozi be ideally suited for THAT agenda? I’m really curious.

By: Danny_Black

Danny_Black — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:04:25 +0000

alea, damn u beat me to it

By: alea

alea — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:56:45 +0000

The really good news would be the shut down of this totally useless organization.

By: RightPaddock

RightPaddock — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:56:45 +0000

The ideal candidate is actually Goh Chok Tong, former PM of Singapore. GCT is one of the smartest guys around, and he has a record of success at economic and national development – second to none.

His problems would be a) he’s Chinese and b) he’s a plain speaking man, and c) at 70 he’s probably considered too old.

By: MrRFox

MrRFox — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:44:55 +0000

The coolest way to play it would be to nominate Larry (pleasing his cronies) and have him be voted down by the Board – pleasing me and everyone else in the world with a functioning brain.

I’m no fan of the WB, but imposing Larry on them is cruel and unusual ….