IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/7181.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Correlates of success in World Bank development policy lending

Author

Listed:
  • Moll, Peter
  • Geli, Patricia
  • Saavedra, Pablo

Abstract

This paper examines the correlates of success of development policy lending operations of the World Bank between 2004 and 2012. The paper uses a data set constructed of individual loan characteristics and ex-post loan ratings produced by the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group. Departing from the related literature, the paper focuses mostly on examining the impact of loan characteristics, reform program design features, and task team leader skills, among other variables, on intended development results, while still controlling for country characteristics. It finds that a variable used to reflect congruence or"line of sight"between the policy reforms supported and the results framework is a critical ingredient for success. Task team leader skills in general, and task team leadership by staff affiliated with the former"Economic Policy"department of the World Bank, also increase the chance of success. Conversely, a weaker set of supported reforms in these operations tends to reduce the chance of success. Reforms supported in the energy sector seem to reduce the likelihood of success, perhaps because of the inherent political difficulties of implementing reforms in this sector. The paper also draws important policy and institutional implications from these and other findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Moll, Peter & Geli, Patricia & Saavedra, Pablo, 2015. "Correlates of success in World Bank development policy lending," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7181, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2015/01/28/000158349_20150128095757/Rendered/PDF/WPS7181.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dollar, David & Svensson, Jakob, 2000. "What Explains the Success or Failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(466), pages 894-917, October.
    2. Peter Boone, 1995. "Politics and the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid," CEP Discussion Papers dp0272, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. David Dollar & Craig Burnside, 2000. "Aid, Policies, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 847-868, September.
    4. Kilby, Christopher, 2013. "The political economy of project preparation: An empirical analysis of World Bank projects," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 211-225.
    5. Lodewijk Smets & Stephen Knack, 2016. "World Bank Lending and the Quality of Economic Policy," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(1), pages 72-91, January.
    6. Kilby, Christopher, 2000. "Supervision and performance: the case of World Bank projects," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 233-259, June.
    7. Collier, Paul & Dollar, David, 2002. "Aid allocation and poverty reduction," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1475-1500, September.
    8. Burnside, Craig & Dollar, David, 2004. "Aid, policies, and growth : revisiting the evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3251, The World Bank.
    9. Denizer, Cevdet & Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart, 2013. "Good countries or good projects? Macro and micro correlates of World Bank project performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 288-302.
    10. Independent Evaluation Group, 2010. "Poverty Reduction Support Credits : An Evaluation of World Bank Support," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2470, December.
    11. Chauvet, Lisa & Collier, Paul & Duponchel, Marguerite, 2010. "What explains aid project success in post-conflict situations ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5418, The World Bank.
    12. Independent Evaluation Group, 2008. "Public Sector Reform: What Works and Why? An IEG evaluation of World Bank Support," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6484, December.
    13. Peter Boone, 1995. "Politics and the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid," NBER Working Papers 5308, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Wane, Waly, 2004. "The quality of foreign aid : country selectivity or donors incentives?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3325, The World Bank.
    15. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn & Basu, Swati, 1998. "Does Economic Analysis Improve the Quality of Foreign Assistance?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 12(3), pages 385-418, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel L. Nielson & Bradley Parks & Michael J. Tierney, 2017. "International organizations and development finance: Introduction to the special issue," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 157-169, June.
    2. Peter Moll & Lodewijk Smets, 2020. "Is It the Journey That Matters? A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1194-1228, October.
    3. Neil McCulloch, 2017. "Energy subsidies, international aid, and the politics of reform," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-174, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Neil McCulloch, 2017. "Energy subsidies, international aid, and the politics of reform," WIDER Working Paper Series 174, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Christopher Kilby & Katharina Michaelowa, 2019. "What Influences World Bank Project Evaluations?," Springer Books, in: Nabamita Dutta & Claudia R. Williamson (ed.), Lessons on Foreign Aid and Economic Development, chapter 0, pages 109-150, Springer.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Denizer, Cevdet & Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart, 2013. "Good countries or good projects? Macro and micro correlates of World Bank project performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 288-302.
    2. Kilby, Christopher, 2015. "Assessing the impact of World Bank preparation on project outcomes," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 111-123.
    3. Christopher Kilby, 2012. "Assessing the contribution of donor agencies to aid effectiveness: The impact of World Bank preparation on project outcomes," Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series 20, Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics.
    4. Mirko Heinzel & Andrea Liese, 2021. "Managing performance and winning trust: how World Bank staff shape recipient performance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 625-653, July.
    5. Amanda A. Licht, 2010. "Coming into Money: The Impact of Foreign Aid on Leader Survival," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 54(1), pages 58-87, February.
    6. Kilby, Christopher, 2013. "The political economy of project preparation: An empirical analysis of World Bank projects," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 211-225.
    7. Lodewijk Smets & Stephen Knack & Nadia Molenaers, 2013. "Political ideology, quality at entry and the success of economic reform programs," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 447-476, December.
    8. Philipp Harms & Matthias Lutz, 2004. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Foreign Aid: A Survey," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2004 2004-11, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    9. Feeny, Simon & Vuong, Vu, 2017. "Explaining Aid Project and Program Success: Findings from Asian Development Bank Interventions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 329-343.
    10. Bulman,David Janoff & Kolkma,Walter & Kraay,Aart C., 2015. "Good Countries or Good Projects ? Comparing Macro and Micro Correlates of World Bank and Asian Development Bank Project Performance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7245, The World Bank.
    11. Tierney, Michael J. & Nielson, Daniel L. & Hawkins, Darren G. & Roberts, J. Timmons & Findley, Michael G. & Powers, Ryan M. & Parks, Bradley & Wilson, Sven E. & Hicks, Robert L., 2011. "More Dollars than Sense: Refining Our Knowledge of Development Finance Using AidData," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 1891-1906.
    12. Elisabeth Paul, 2006. "A Survey of the Theoretical Economic Literature on Foreign Aid," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, May.
    13. Ali, Murad, 2017. "Implementing the 2030 Agenda in Pakistan: the critical role of an enabling environment in the mobilisation of domestic and external resources," IDOS Discussion Papers 14/2017, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    14. Afees Adebare SALISU* & Fidelis O.OGWUMIKE**, 2010. "Aid-Macroeconomic Policy Environment and Growth:Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 20, pages 1-12.
    15. Knack,Stephen & Parks,Bradley Christopher & Harutyunyan,Ani & DiLorenzo,Matthew, 2020. "How Does the World Bank Influence the Development Policy Priorities of Low-Income and Lower-Middle Income Countries ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9225, The World Bank.
    16. David Bulman & Walter Kolkma & Aart Kraay, 2017. "Good countries or good projects? Comparing macro and micro correlates of World Bank and Asian Development Bank project performance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 335-363, September.
    17. Geli,Patricia & Kraay,Aart C. & Nobakht,Hoveida, 2014. "Predicting World Bank project outcome ratings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7001, The World Bank.
    18. Yousuf, Ahmed Sadek, 2012. "Assessing Impact of Health Oriented Aid on Infant Mortality Rates," EconStor Preprints 67391, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    19. Almuth Scholl, 2009. "Aid Effectiveness and Limited Enforceable Conditionality," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(2), pages 377-391, April.
    20. Almuth Scholl, 2018. "Debt Relief for Poor Countries: Conditionality and Effectiveness," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(339), pages 626-648, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7181. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.