ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book covers the conceptual and institutional bases of the World Bank lending criteria and their practical application, against which the new emphasis of lending can be compared and be more clearly understood. It focuses on the theoretical underpinnings and evolution of development economics, which contributed to the changes in practical development financing. The book also focuses on an analysis of the new lending criteria in the 1970s, of their developmental impact in the borrower countries on the one hand and of their effects on World Bank-creditor relations on the other. It shows that the correlations and contrast between the fragments of development theory and implemented development financing as exemplified by the concepts and operations of the World Bank. The reasons for success or failure of development lending are analysed, and some suggestions for potential improvements in World Bank operations are made.
