Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending

This paper investigates the impact of World Bank development policy operations on the quality of economic policy during the period 1998-2015. A new theoretical framework distinguishes among three effects that have been conflated hitherto: (a) margi...

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Main Authors:	Moll, Peter, Smets, Lodewijk
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:	DEVELOPMENT POLICY FINANCING STRATEGIC ADJUSTMENT ADJUSTMENT LENDING DEVELOPMENT POLICY LENDING BUDGET SUPPORT AID EFFECTIVENESS WORLD BANK POLICY DIALOGUE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/616021542116899115/Is-It-the-Journey-That-Matters-A-Fresh-Look-at-the-Impact-of-World-Bank-Policy-Lending http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30873

id	okr-10986-30873
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-308732021-11-21T00:22:04Z Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending Moll, Peter Smets, Lodewijk DEVELOPMENT POLICY FINANCING STRATEGIC ADJUSTMENT ADJUSTMENT LENDING DEVELOPMENT POLICY LENDING BUDGET SUPPORT AID EFFECTIVENESS WORLD BANK POLICY DIALOGUE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT This paper investigates the impact of World Bank development policy operations on the quality of economic policy during the period 1998-2015. A new theoretical framework distinguishes among three effects that have been conflated hitherto: (a) marginal impacts of additional policy actions within the current year; (b) length of the policy engagement with client countries, and (c) changes over time in the marginal impact of policy actions. The analysis focuses on policy actions that are particularly relevant for the quality of economic management. Consistent with past research, robust panel estimations indicate that development policy financing has a positive effect on the quality of government economic policy. The econometric work suggests that the nature of the policy dialogue and quality of the engagement with government matter more than the sheer number of policy actions adopted. There is also tentative evidence that although the positive impact is sustained over time, the initial years of an engagement are the most productive for improvement in government economic policy. This may be linked to the fact that over time the reform program changes from 'first-generation' to more complex 'second-generation' policy actions. 2018-11-26T17:45:54Z 2018-11-26T17:45:54Z 2018-11 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/616021542116899115/Is-It-the-Journey-That-Matters-A-Fresh-Look-at-the-Impact-of-World-Bank-Policy-Lending http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30873 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8645 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	DEVELOPMENT POLICY FINANCING STRATEGIC ADJUSTMENT ADJUSTMENT LENDING DEVELOPMENT POLICY LENDING BUDGET SUPPORT AID EFFECTIVENESS WORLD BANK POLICY DIALOGUE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
spellingShingle	DEVELOPMENT POLICY FINANCING STRATEGIC ADJUSTMENT ADJUSTMENT LENDING DEVELOPMENT POLICY LENDING BUDGET SUPPORT AID EFFECTIVENESS WORLD BANK POLICY DIALOGUE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Moll, Peter Smets, Lodewijk Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8645
description	This paper investigates the impact of World Bank development policy operations on the quality of economic policy during the period 1998-2015. A new theoretical framework distinguishes among three effects that have been conflated hitherto: (a) marginal impacts of additional policy actions within the current year; (b) length of the policy engagement with client countries, and (c) changes over time in the marginal impact of policy actions. The analysis focuses on policy actions that are particularly relevant for the quality of economic management. Consistent with past research, robust panel estimations indicate that development policy financing has a positive effect on the quality of government economic policy. The econometric work suggests that the nature of the policy dialogue and quality of the engagement with government matter more than the sheer number of policy actions adopted. There is also tentative evidence that although the positive impact is sustained over time, the initial years of an engagement are the most productive for improvement in government economic policy. This may be linked to the fact that over time the reform program changes from 'first-generation' to more complex 'second-generation' policy actions.
format	Working Paper
author	Moll, Peter Smets, Lodewijk
author_facet	Moll, Peter Smets, Lodewijk
author_sort	Moll, Peter
title	Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending
title_short	Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending
title_full	Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending
title_fullStr	Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending
title_full_unstemmed	Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending
title_sort	is it the journey that matters? : a fresh look at the impact of world bank policy lending
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2018
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/616021542116899115/Is-It-the-Journey-That-Matters-A-Fresh-Look-at-the-Impact-of-World-Bank-Policy-Lending http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30873
_version_	1764473129962307584

Is It the Journey That Matters? : A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending

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