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This article discusses the International Monetary Fund’s recent effort to garner legitimacy by incorporating the reduction of economic inequality in its lending programs. It argues that the impact of the US as a major shareholder on conditionality and geopolitical considerations beyond objective and measurable economic necessities detract from these efforts to expand legitimacy. Using a panel data analysis of International Monetary Fund programs between 1980 and 2013, the article shows that US-allied left-wing governments receive a larger number of labor conditions in their programs compared to non-allied and right-wing governments. The article argues that this is part of left-wing governments’ strategy of maintaining their alliance with the US and demonstrating ideological proximity. In exchange, the US uses its influence to secure fewer conditions in total for its allied governments. This not only shifts the burden of adjustment on labor groups but also harms the Fund’s procedural legitimacy, as conditions are not objectively determined. It also has adverse implications for outcome legitimacy by distorting economic policies and outcomes and increasing income inequality.

We contribute to the research stream examining the effects of World Bank lending programs on economic growth in developing economies. We contend that it is important to distinguish between the short-term effects and extended exposure of countries to these lending programs and also to assess the Bank’s (late 1990s) reforms to improve the effectiveness of these programs in recipient countries to assess whether program lending has any positive impacts on economic growth. Our comparative cross-national findings using instrumental variables analysis to control for endogeneity between program participation and economic growth demonstrate that both the short-term and longer exposure to program lending worsens economic growth. We find no evidence that World Bank reforms improved economic growth rates in the post-reform (1999–2009) period. Our findings are robust to changes in model specifications and estimation techniques. Future research should examine whether these reforms had beneficial impacts in other societal areas affected by program lending.

Cities are home to 525 million poor people, and the World Bank makes substantial investments in developing country cities every year. This study reviews the performance of 99 urban development operations completed since 1993 to see, in particular, how these interventions have improved the living conditions of the urban poor, the primary goal of the livability pillar of the World Bank’s current urban strategy. Improving the Lives of Poor People by Investing in Cities finds that cities, who hosted World Bank supported urban projects, improved their livability conditions significantly more than similar cities without such projects. These improvements included better basic water, sewerage and solid waste disposal. Factors in the relative success of these urban development projects have been involvement of both beneficiaries and borrowers, without straining their capacities or resources, and the use of lessons from prior experiences. The study also finds however, that despite the promising result, there is still much to learn about how many poor people are served by such projects and how many are not being served. The study calls for more systematic monitoring and evaluation of the poverty alleviation results of urban development assistance. This is a call echoed by practitioners who agree that knowing more about the results achieved thus far, can better inform assistance to the urban poor in the future.

This evaluation assesses the development effectiveness of the World Bank's lending and non-lending assistance to the Russian Federation since 1991, a 10-year period of tumultuous political, economic, and social change. This report concludes that an assistance strategy, concentrating on analytical and advisory services with limited financial support for Russia, would have been more appropriate than one involving large volumes of adjustment lending.

A basic reference guide to the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and International Centre for Resolution of Investment Disputes. The four main chapters explain how the Bank Group is organized, how it operates, the role of countries and regions as a focus for its work, and the major topics in development in which the Bank Group is active. Appendices provide worldwide contacts, historical information, and additional data on the organization.

Federal, state, and local governments administer numerous lending programs. Many of these programs are intended to enable private capital providers to participate in riskier lending, mainly to smaller companies. These programs typically involve government lending guarantees rather than direct loans. This chapter explains particular reasons for why borrowers are motivated to seek government lending programs. Government‐lending positions the government as an active player in the private capital markets. The government's intentions are market oriented, and they are designed to improve capital access for companies that otherwise might not be able to fund their business plans. Access to capital affects the value of a firm. Government lending programs dramatically improve capital access. In most cases, such as the SBA programs, the borrower reduces its cost of capital but, more important, increases its capital base to provide for future growth. Most of the government programs support business transfer needs. In some cases, the government program seals the deal. Two SBA programs, the 7(a) and 504, are especially useful in supporting business transfers. A large percentage of small business transfers would not be possible without these government programs. Progressively in the 1990s, SBA became much more user friendly and at present, is highly responsive to its constituents' needs.

Fostering the entrepreneurship of women is important for Pakistan's economic growth and inclusion agenda, and access to financial services is an important component of starting and growing a business for women entrepreneurs. Most women?owned businesses are small, household?based cottage industries; microfinance products should be a natural source of start?up and working capital finance for this clientele. Microfinance portfolio data suggest that although Pakistan's sector has shown improvement in reaching women, it still lags its regional peers, only 59 percent of microfinance clients are women. The original purpose of this work was to determine whether women entrepreneurs have access to, and are using, microfinance loans as a source of finance for their businesses. However, the findings of the report go beyond the narrow objective of understanding whether microfinance institutions (MFIs) are reaching Pakistan's businesswomen. As the research unfolded, the evidence suggested that not only are women entrepreneurs not being served, but also that the outreach to women in general is potentially more limited than previously assumed and that the issues of consumer protection and responsible lending practices in Pakistan might merit further exploration. The report raises and addresses two distinct issues. First, some evidence suggests that women are often not the final users of loans, but rather are conduits to male household members. The report documents findings that suggest that the practice of passing on loans to male household members is potentially quite widespread; women may be bearing all the transaction costs and risks of accessing loans, but are not the final beneficiaries. Second, a very low proportion of female microfinance clients are entrepreneurs. The report explores why businesswomen in Pakistan may not be using microfinance products to meet their startup and working capital requirements, in spite of identifying access to finance as a key constraint to their business operations. The report focuses on products, services, policies, and other elements of the business model of microfinance in Pakistan that affect both demand for and access to microfinance by women borrowers, some of whom fall into the narrower category of entrepreneurs.

Existing research establishes that minority borrowers, particularly Black small business owners, faced significant challenges in accessing funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), especially in its early stages. We find that institutional and racial disparities persist during the PPP loan forgiveness stage. Controlling for various loan- and borrower-level characteristics, we demonstrate that relationship lenders—community banks, credit unions, and farm credit institutions—are associated with higher rates of PPP loan forgiveness. In contrast, automated lenders—fintechs and fintech banks—exhibit the lowest forgiveness rates. Black borrowers experience the poorest outcomes, except for loans issued by non-depository fintech and lenders categorized as “other,” where they outperform White borrowers. Loan forgiveness rates improve, and racial disparities diminish, with increased lender concentration in specific economic sectors. Thus, specialized relationship lenders may have the highest odds of achieving the best and most equitable lending outcomes. Plain English summary Specialized relationship lenders may achieve the best and most equitable lending outcomes. This study is the first comprehensive examination of loan forgiveness in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to help US small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Relationship lenders do not necessarily eliminate racial gaps in forgiveness rates. The smallest gaps are found among non-depository fintech lenders, which, along with fintech banks, have the poorest forgiveness outcomes for borrowers of all races. For future government-backed lending program designs, policymakers may consider aligning private lenders’ incentives with the programs’ desired final outcomes.

This chapter contains sections titled: The Content of Demand Processes in Demand What Can We Supply? How Can Psychology Be Supplied? Conclusion References