The World Bank (henceforth ‘the Bank’) is an institution whose objective is the promotion, world-wide, of sustainable economic development and poverty reduction. It pursues these objectives through lending, through the production of research and economic analysis and through the provision of policy advice and technical assistance. The purpose of this book is to critically examine the rationale of this institution and to describe the policies which it currently carries out, in order to examine whether its objectives are best served by its current mix of activities.

Our intention is not just to look backwards, but to examine future options and to advocate choices among them. It has often been said that the Bank lacks a coherent vision, and that, as a consequence, it suffers from a dysfunctional proliferation of objectives. We agree. In response to this, we argue that the Bank should be organised around a vision of itself as a ‘Knowledge Bank’. To some extent, this has already happened. But it has only partly happened; making it really happen would radically transform the Bank's priorities, and its activities in the field, way beyond any changes currently in train. In particular, far less manpower would be devoted to analysing loan proposals and outcomes, and far more would be devoted to giving advice about development strategies and to providing help with their implementation.

The Bank recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. It has always been controversial.