Investing in development: Lessons of World Bank experience∗

This article was first published in Finance & Development, December 1985.

Abstract

This article comes from a book entitled Investing in Development: Lessons of World Bank Experience. The book was written by Warren C Baum and Stokes M Tolbert with the participation of a number of other World Bank staff members and several consultants. It is intended primarily as a guide for officials and others in developing countries concerned with managing the use of investment resources. It seeks to synthesize and make accessible in one place some of the principal lessons learned by the Bank in financing development in its member countries. The book is not focused on the Bank's own procedures. Instead, it has the much broader purpose of providing guidance to developing countries in the areas of national investment planning and budgeting, sector analysis and management, and the selection, preparation, and implementation of their whole portfolio of investment projects, regardless of the source of financing. Over the years, the Bank has published a wide selection of materials on various aspects of its work. But this is the first time it has sought to portray in one volume the full scope of the investment process. We present here the book's final chapter, which briefly summarizes the highlights of the Bank's experience.

Notes

Vice President World Bank, and Senior Adviser in the Economic Development Institute, World Bank.

This article was first published in Finance & Development, December 1985.