Source: VOA News

An independent study, requested by a bank official, found that the bank sometimes ignored research that did not support its policies, especially on globalization.

The World Bank lends money to developing countries but also considers itself a "knowledge bank." Its advice can influence government policies as well as its own future policies.

The question is, how valuable is that advice? Not even the bank's chief economist, Senior Vice President Francois Bourguignon, could answer that.

So he asked a group of economists, led by Angus Deaton at Princeton University, to do an independent study. They examined all research activities carried out by the World Bank between nineteen ninety-eight and two thousand five.

Last September, they reported finding many valuable studies. But they also found that advice from the bank was not always balanced. They said the bank sometimes gave greater weight to information that supported its positions and ignored other findings.

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Posted by pichu at January 28, 2007 8:47 PM