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for the World Bank, although they do not nullify the messages conveyed by the WDR. What they do make one wonder is why the advice given through policy dialogues, technical assistance, and lending operations to the developing countries that accepted assistance from the Bank did so little good for growth. Such policy advice—duly rendered operational and embedded in a scholarly apparatus—was clearly seen as adding value and contributing to the performance of the borrowing nations at least as much as the loans and credits. Could it be, for instance, that reforms that were introduced starting in the 1980s—reforms that initiated the building of market-friendly institutions, introduced macrostability, began improving the business climate, and paved the way to greater economic openness—are only now starting to bite after a lag of a decade and more? This is an attractive proposition, but could it be true? Do we just have to be patient? The recent accelerations in the growth of many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the higher average rates of growth in Latin America are a positive sign. However, it is hard to disentangle the effects of freer trade and large injections of resources into these regions following the rise in prices of energy and primary commodities since 2005. Also notable is that China and India—two of the most dynamic economies, which have accounted for most of the drop in poverty since the early 1990s—have followed a slow and cautious path to reform. They still sustain a large state sector, as well as a major state role in guiding the market, and they rank fairly low with respect to the “Doing Business” indicators. Moreover, other East Asian economies that went further with denationalization, openness, and building market institutions are now confronting a slowing of economic growth and an upward creep in economic inequality.
A WDR Policy Scorecard In sum, the Bank through its WDRs has been powerfully instrumental in raising awareness on the extent of poverty and in exhaustively cataloguing the many ways of erasing it. Whether the policy medicines are potent enough is less than obvious, but certainly the challenges and policy options have been widely disseminated. Very likely, much of the poverty reduction stems directly—and indirectly—from GDP growth. In this regard, the Bank
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