WBG History and Economics Thematic Groups event
A panel discussion with Paul Collier, Alan Gelb, Serge Michailof, and Ritva Reinikka. Moderator: Shanta Devarajan.
This session kicks off a series of panel discussions about aspects of the Wolfensohn presidency, aiming to coincide with the 30th anniversary of his accession to the presidency. Sir Paul Collier directed the Development Research Group at a critical moment in the Wolfensohn presidency, coinciding with Joe Stiglitz’s tenure as Chief Economist and the challenge to the neoliberal orthodoxy promoted by the World Bank and the IMF. Sir Paul’s career has focused on addressing poverty and the needs of the ‘left behind.’ This is therefore a fitting opener for a series devoted to the legacy of a president who aimed to reinstate the poverty focus of the World Bank’s mission that had originally been broached by his mentor, Robert McNamara,
SIR PAUL COLLIER is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. Between 1998 and 2003 he directed the World Bank’s Development Research Group. He is a specialist, and has written widely on the political and economic predicaments of low-income countries, advising local and national governments on practical ways of regional renewal. In 2024, he published Left Behind: A New Economics for Neglected Places.
ALAN GELB is Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Center for Global Development. From 1978 to 2009 he held positions with the World Bank, including as Director of Development Policy, Development Economics (DEC); Chief Economist Africa Region; Staff Director, World Development Report 1996; Chief, Transition Division, Chief, Macroeconomics Research Group. He also held positions in the financial systems group and the industry department of the World Bank.
SERGE MICHAILOF, a French national, initially trained as an anthropologist, has a PhD in economics, and has served as a visiting professor at Sorbonne and Science Po. He worked with the Agence Française de Développement before and after joining the World Bank, where he served as country director in West and Central Africa and advisor to the Africa Vice-President. He has worked in seventy countries and written ten books.
RITVA REINIKKA, a Finnish national, is Professor of Practice (in development economics) at the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics. Until recently, she was a Special Adviser to the European Union Commissioner for International Partnerships, and a member of an advisory group at the European Stability Mechanism. Ms. Reinikka worked for two decades (1993-2013) at the World Bank, including the Research Department, and Country and Sector Director in the Africa and MENA regions.
SHANTAYANAN DEVARAJAN is Professor of the Practice of International Development at Georgetown. Before that he spent 28 years at the World Bank, where he was the Senior Director for Development Economics, and Chief Economist of the South Asia, Africa, and Middle East and North Africa regions and of the Human Development Network. Born in Sri Lanka, Shanta received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and was once on the faculty of Harvard Kennedy School.
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