Human capital, risk and the World Bank’s reintermediation in global development

Abstract

This article examines an attempt to reconstitute global development governance in a context of growing influence for private finance. We focus on the World Bank's Human Capital Project (HCP) and Human Capital Index (HCI), which have stated aims of promoting economic growth and accelerating progress towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Informed by a review of publicly available World Bank materials, we argue that, through its HCP and HCI, the World Bank is responding to its own institutional sidelining in development financing and governance with a strategy of reintermediation. Its leaders have pursued a system of governance in which the World Bank creates and instrumentalises knowledge on human capital -an asset to be accumulated through judicious investments in markets for self-betterment. Through its HCI the World Bank has expanded its global benchmarking practices, encompassing new domains and quantified predictions of future productivity, in the hope of shaping domestic policy processes. Its leaders propose to use HCI scores to signal risk to investors and political leaders, triggering political shocks that will spur policy reform. Crucially, these efforts seek to reassert the World Bank's epistemic authority and financing clout as the influence of its own lending wanes.

Dünya Bankası Beşeri Sermaye Şemsiye Programı: Sosyo-Ekonomik Bakış

“…Nüfusun geleceğinin ölçümü ve kazanç tahminleri, günümüzde beşeri sermaye yatırımları için gerekçe olarak gösterilmektedir. BSE, sosyal yaşamın boyutlarına yönelik ölçümleri bir araya getiren "çocuğun hayatta kalması", "öğrenime göre ayarlanmış beklenen okul yılı" ve "sağlık" başlıklarıyla özetlenebilecek üç temel bileşenden oluşturulmuştur (Hunter ve Shaffer, 2022). BSE'yi oluşturan 3 temel bileşenle ilgili detaylar, özellikle de toplanan/işlenen veriler bağlamında aşağıda verilmektedir (Kraay, 2018):…”

“…Proje, çocukların hayatta kalma oranları, okullaşma oranları, yetişkinlerin sağlık ve eğitim düzeyleri gibi göstergelere bakarak ülkelerin beşeri sermaye oluşturma konusundaki ilerlemelerini ölçmeyi ve izlemeyi hedeflemektedir (World Bank 2023a;World Bank 2023b). Söz konusu projenin, ekonomik büyümeyi teşvik etmek ve Birleşmiş Milletler tarafından ortaya konulan sürdürülebilir kalkınma hedeflerine ("Sustainable Development Goals") ulaşma yolunda ilerlemeyi hızlandırmak amacıyla Dünya Bankası'nca hayata geçirildiği hususu da Hunter ve Shaffer (2022) tarafından belirtilmektedir.…”

Universities, schools and the third space

“…Unsurprisingly, the World Bank is committed to promoting economic growth by judicious investment. Critics highlight how this instrumentalist view supports private financing and encourages policies that may be at odds with more liberal and emancipatory views of the aims and purposes of education (Hunter & Shafer, 2021;Parkinson & Kester, 2017;Nussbaum, 2011). The bench-marking system based on the World Bank's 'Human Capital Index' enables a quantification of progress and any country's score has far-reaching consequences for such things as credit ratings.…”

Determinants associated with infant mortality in Ethiopia: Using the recent 2019 Ethiopia mini demographic and health survey

“…Despite their having been a significant reduction in under-five mortality, its rate is still high in Sub-Saharan African countries [2] . Infant mortality is the number of deaths under the age of one year and it is one of the most essential and sensitive indicators of the health status of the country [3]. Infant mortality is a useful and inexpensive indicator of population health.…”