Privatizing the World Bank

Abstract

The world bank's present problem is as simple as it is profound: having outlived the problem it was designed to solve, this multilateral institution has no defining purpose. this article argues that the transition to private bank ownership promises to save taxpayers in america and other western countries billions of dollars in the coming years--even to refund billions of dollars to their national treasuries. a privately owned and operated world bank could be more effective at promoting and supporting international economic development than the current organization--whose very structure encourages unsound, even perverse, economic practices in the countries to which it lends. a roadmap for privatization is offered.