What Have We Learned About Development?

In its early years - and for many years after - the main development recommendation of the World Bank was: adopt economic planning. Planning models were used to recommend policies and governments were encouraged to use these tools to choose investments.

The result was bureaucratic centralization of economic decision-making. This may have accorded with widely held views in many developing countries. Particularly in the academic profession, many believed planning was the best way to organize development.