ABSTRACT
The adaptation of individual and organizational behavior to perceptions and interpretations of economic and social change is critical to development. Evaluation is beneficial only if it accelerates social learning by affecting the perceptions of individual decisionmakers, the design of the rules of the game, and the behavior of the players. Crisis-affected countries suffered major shocks because globalization has a dark side. Globalization has increased those tensions significantly, and the problem with the right approach to poverty reduction is that no enforcement mechanism exists at the global level for economic rights. Political rights need to be protected and, of course, all the dilemmas of collective action for social rights at the local level need to be considered. Economic history teaches that a high probability of error exists and that effective feedback mechanisms are crucial. In the new global economy, information, institutions, and incentives are the engines of development.
