A Timeline of Development Economics at the World Bank | World Bank Institute (WBI)

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A Timeline of Development Economics at the World Bank

From the issue of 09/01/2011
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1950s: A narrow remit of conducting financial feasibility studies of proposed projects. Reconstruction work and engineering projects.

1960s: Expanded numbers and areas of research.Keynesian-style fine-tuning and capital allocation.

1970s: More like an agency for development. Causes of poverty and search for policy.

1980s: Macroeconomic adjustment. Market incentives, prices, energy, gender, environment.

1990s: "The East Asian miracle." Reform of socialist economies, east Asia, poverty, inequality, corruption, HIV/AIDS.

2000s: Emerging economies are now key variables in the global growth equation. China, India, Infrastructure, Agriculture, Fragile States, Weak Institutions

2010s: A new multipolar economy requires multipolar knowledge. Where is international development going from here?

Challenges for future research

  • How does economic transformation happen?
  • How to broaden access to economic opportunity?
  • How to deal with new global challenges of risk facingeconomies and people?
  • Setting a research agenda that focuses on results: Knowing what works–development effectiveness.


New research model: “Open data, open knowledge, open solutions ”

“In a world where there is no one, overarching, theoretical framework; in a world where scholarship must be linked to practice; in a world where developing economies  have as much to share as developed; we need to democratize and demystify development economics, recognizing that we do not have a monopoly on the answers. We need to throw open the doors, recognizing that others can find and create their own solutions. And this open research revolution is under way.”

—Robert Zoellick

Adapted from “Democratizing Development Economics,” a speech by World Bank President Robert Zoellick at Georgetown University, September 29, 2010.

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