Add new comment

I don't think one can say that the World Bank "...NOW explicitly ADVISE policymakers to consider the distributive effects of their economic policies. Not just to reduce poverty, but to prevent the emergence of inefficient unequal societies. As far as I know, back from urban projects in the seventies, where plot size and shape and use-rights etc were carefully designed to be attractive for the urban poor target population in sites&services and slum improvement projects, through the involvement in the SAM (social accounting matrix) for analysis of distributive effects of interventions, to the investment studies such as "Voices of the Poor" as well my direct experience as consultant, the bank has - at least since McNamara invested time and money in such advice. That this advice is more often than not hardly translated in equitable implementation in the end is another matter. The challenge is to contribute to the conditions that carry the full policy cycle research - policy advice - policy design - through to enactment in implementation.