ABSTRACT
The World Bank is a unique invention of the second half of the twentieth century. Nineteen ninety-four marks its fiftieth birthday, if one counts, like the Chinese, from conception rather than birth. The Bank is respected and admired by some; feared and reviled by others; but to most people it is simply unknown, scarcely a household name; even though it has influenced, directly and indirectly, more lives in those countries euphemistically called less developed than any other institution since the Second World War. The Church, more than the Bank, is like God himself ‘a mighty fortress, a bulwark never failing’ in the words of the splendid hymn. Most of the Bank’s loanable funds do not come from capital subscriptions at all. Many countries receive both Bank loans and International Development Association credits – for example, India, by far the Bank’s largest overall customer. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
