Recommended resources on the World Bank and IMF 2011

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Papers

Oakland Institute series on land grabs; Oakland Institute
A series of investigative research papers outlining in detail the political economy of land grabs in Africa, with a strong focus on the role of the Bank's reforms
www.oaklandinstitute.org/land-grabs-africa

Heading for the right choice? A professional approach to selecting the IMF boss; Afrodad, Third World Network and others
Outlines the reforms neccesary to ensure IMF leadership selection is fair, open, merit-based and legitimate.
www.brettonwoodsproject.org/imfboss

IMF performance in the run-up to the financial and economic crisis; Independent Evaluation Office
Finds major lapses in the IMFs judgement in the run-up to the financial crisis.
http://www.ieo-imf.org/eval/complete/eval_01102011.html

World Bank, climate change and energy financing: something old. Something new?; Friends of the Earth, International Rivers, Groundwork and others
Critical survey of the Bank's role in climate finance, carbon finance and energy through a series of informative case studies.
tinyurl.com/wbclimate

World Development Report 2012: gender equality and development - An opportunity both welcome and missed; UNRISD
A critique of the Bank's WDR on gender that finds the report unable to engage with the gender biases of macroeconomic policy agendas, and that reduces social policy to a focus on conditional cash transfers.
www.tinyurl.com/UNRISDpaper

Labour standards in World Bank Group lending; ITUC
The report laments the Bank's inconsistent adoption and application of core labour standards.
www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/Labour_StandardsEN_2011_web.pdf

Smoke and mirrors - A critical assessment of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility; Forest Peoples Programme and FERN
A critical examination of the Bank's main facility for REDD, revealing a host of often unaccounted for problems and issues.
www.forestpeoples.org/smokeandmirrors

Capital flows to developing countries in a historical perspective: will the current boom end with a bust?; South Centre
The paper argues that the IMF approach to capital controls may not protect against the risks from volatility in flows to developing countries.
www.tinyurl.com/southcentrep37

Sufficient recourse? Controversial oil and gas projects in the former Soviet Union and recommendations to improve the CAO; Crude Accountability
Through the use of case studies of CAO operations in Eastern Europe the report offers a revealing and critical perspective on how he organisation functions.
www.crudeaccountability.org/en/uploads/File/Sufficient%20Recourse.pdf

Power surge: lessons for the World Bank from Indian women's participation in energy projects; Bretton Woods Project
Using case studies from the field in India, this report outlines the importance of understanding the links between gender and energy in policy formation and application, with important lessons for the Bank.
www.brettonwoodsproject.org/powersurge

A faulty model? What the Green Climate Fund can learn from the Climate Investment Funds;Bretton Woods Project
Charts numerous concerns about the design and operation of the Climate Investment Funds and argues that the Green Climate Fund must not replicate these issues.
www.brettonwoodsproject.org/afaultymodel

Time for a new consensus: regulating financial flows for stability and development;Bretton Woods Project
Explain the drawbacks, especially for development, of policies to deregulate the movement of money across borders.
www.brettonwoodsproject.org/timeforanewconsensus

Books

Legislating international organization: The US Congress, the IMF, and the World Bank; Kathryn Lavelle
Argues against the commonly-held idea that key international organizations are entities unto themselves, immune from the influence and pressures of individual states' domestic policies. Covering the history of the IMF and World Bank from their origins, she shows that domestic political constituencies in advanced industrial states have always been important drivers of international financial institution policy. Oxford University Press.

The political economy of development: the World Bank, neoliberalism and development research; Edited by Kate Bayliss, Ben Fine and Elisa Van Waeyenberge
A collection of essays examining the role of the Bank as a knowledge institution and shaper of international policy agendas. Pluto Press.

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Published: 7 February 2012 , last edited: 5 April 2012

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