Book presentation on Tuesday, March 09, 2010, 12:00 PM, at the Institute of Latin American Studies, Columbia University. International Affairs Building, Room 802, 420 West 118th St., New York, 10027 NY. Comments by José Antonio Ocampo, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.

“The Political Economy of the World Bank” tells the story of the early development policies by the World Bank, and the internal discussions that shaped them. Should the Bank focus on infrastructures and heavy industry alone, or deal with health and sanitation as well? Should it limit its interventions to the industrial and agricultural sectors, or also be involved in monetary issues and support the balance of payments of its client countries? A World Bank mission to Colombia in 1949 – the first general survey mission by the Bank, which would serve as a pattern for subsequent Bank’s missions to developing countries – became the occasion to discuss and settle these issues. Colombia was the place where the World Bank and outstanding economists such as Albert Hirschman and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s economic advisor Lauchlin Currie worked together and produced fundamental contributions to the field of development, with enduring influences for development economics and development policies.

For further information please see http://ilas.columbia.edu/newsevents/page/michele_alacevich_presents_the_political_economy_of_the_world_bank_the_earl or contact michele.alacevich@gmail.com