Neoliberalism at Work in the World Bank

An interesting paper on neoliberalism at the Bank by Robin Broad published in the Review of International Political Economy, 13:3 (August 2006): 387-419. It is also available on the Global Policy Forum Website.

Robin Broad, professor in the School of International Service at American University, describes six mechanisms by which the World Bank's development economics vice-presidency (DEC) performs a "paradigm-maintenance" role, privileging individuals whose work "resonates" with the neo-liberal free-market ideology.

Unbeknownst to most who work on the World Bank, this institution is not only the main lender of public money in the world. It is also the world's largest development research body, centred in DEC . DEC is important because it serves as a research department for other bilateral aid agencies and other multilateral development banks, which often follow the course laid out by the Bank. So too with the World Trade Organization which, according to an internal Bank document "looks to the Bank to provide analysis on trade integration policies." And Bank research is consulted by policy-makers across the globe. In academia, as well, relevant courses often rely heavily on Bank research papers. In short, DEC is the research powerhouse of the development world.

The Six mechanisms of "paradigm maintanance" at the Bank in favour of the neoliberal ideology, according to Broad are:

Hiring, Promotions, Selective enforcement of rules, Discouraging dissonant discourse, Manipulation of data, External projection.