Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside

Sound economic and social policies are important if countries wish to prosper and achieve sustainable development. It is far from guaranteed, however, that policymakers select and implement good policies, which provides a rationale for external policy support. Indeed, many organizations are engaged...

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Main Author:	Smets, Lodewijk
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2021
Subjects:	POLICY-BASED LENDING AID EFFECTIVENESS POLICY REFORM POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS PERSUASION EVIDENCE POLICY DIALOGUE BELIEF CHANGE
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36092

id	okr-10986-36092
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-360922021-08-11T05:10:38Z Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside Smets, Lodewijk POLICY-BASED LENDING AID EFFECTIVENESS POLICY REFORM POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS PERSUASION EVIDENCE POLICY DIALOGUE BELIEF CHANGE Sound economic and social policies are important if countries wish to prosper and achieve sustainable development. It is far from guaranteed, however, that policymakers select and implement good policies, which provides a rationale for external policy support. Indeed, many organizations are engaged in supporting policy reform processes in recipient countries. This study investigates the limits and opportunities of supporting policy reform by focusing on four dimensions of support: conditional financing, policy dialogue, technical evidence and political institutions. Four findings follow from a review of the literature. First, without commitment on the recipient side, conditional financing is unlikely to induce policy reform. Second, when external actors acquire a seat at the policy dialogue table, it is important to detect (and influence) the beliefs policymakers hold. Third, outside parties should bring sound evidence to the table about the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of their policy proposals. Finally, supporting changes in political institutions without considering general equilibrium effects can be counterproductive. The study concludes with a discussion and some avenues for future research in this field. 2021-08-10T14:56:22Z 2021-08-10T14:56:22Z 2020-02 Journal Article World Bank Research Observer 1564-6971 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36092 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	POLICY-BASED LENDING AID EFFECTIVENESS POLICY REFORM POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS PERSUASION EVIDENCE POLICY DIALOGUE BELIEF CHANGE
spellingShingle	POLICY-BASED LENDING AID EFFECTIVENESS POLICY REFORM POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS PERSUASION EVIDENCE POLICY DIALOGUE BELIEF CHANGE Smets, Lodewijk Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside
description	Sound economic and social policies are important if countries wish to prosper and achieve sustainable development. It is far from guaranteed, however, that policymakers select and implement good policies, which provides a rationale for external policy support. Indeed, many organizations are engaged in supporting policy reform processes in recipient countries. This study investigates the limits and opportunities of supporting policy reform by focusing on four dimensions of support: conditional financing, policy dialogue, technical evidence and political institutions. Four findings follow from a review of the literature. First, without commitment on the recipient side, conditional financing is unlikely to induce policy reform. Second, when external actors acquire a seat at the policy dialogue table, it is important to detect (and influence) the beliefs policymakers hold. Third, outside parties should bring sound evidence to the table about the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of their policy proposals. Finally, supporting changes in political institutions without considering general equilibrium effects can be counterproductive. The study concludes with a discussion and some avenues for future research in this field.
format	Journal Article
author	Smets, Lodewijk
author_facet	Smets, Lodewijk
author_sort	Smets, Lodewijk
title	Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside
title_short	Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside
title_full	Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside
title_fullStr	Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside
title_full_unstemmed	Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside
title_sort	supporting policy reform from the outside
publisher	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate	2021
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36092
_version_	1764484410540818432

Supporting Policy Reform from the Outside

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