This book presents selected papers from the ABCDE Meetings, held May 17 -18, 2007 in Bled, Slovenia. Hosted by the World Bank and Government if Slovenia, more than 400 experts from countries around the world met to deliberate the theme: Private Sector and Development. This volume presents papers...

Since its birth in 1944, the World Bank has had a strong focus on development projects. Yet, it did not have a project evaluation unit until the early 1970s. An early attempt to conceptualize project appraisal had been made in the 1960s by Albert Hirschman, whose undertaking raised high...

Development economics in its early years created the image of a fierce fight between advocates of contrasting theories or approaches- "balanced growth" vs. "unbalanced growth" or "program loans" vs. "project loans." This view has the merit to highlight such conflicts in great detail; yet it...