Photo Credit: The Economist
THE UNITED STATES and President Obama have their man: an academic, a physician and public policy guy, Jim Yong Kim. Kim is the president of Dartmouth and the chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at perhaps “The Ivy League College,” Harvard. So why is The Economist and The Financial Times pushing for an underdog and an outsider to Western power circles (in some sense) to be the new head of the World Bank? Ngozi Onkojo-Iweala has won the endorsement of several African nations and two well-respected publications for the soon to be filled post ahead of Jim Yong Kim and Columbia’s former finance minister and respected economist José Antonio Ocampo.
Onkojo-Iweala is Nigeria’s two-term finance minister who provided transparency in a corrupted market, and while what she accomplished wasn’t a complete “wiping” of the crony culture that plagues the nation (it ranked 143 out of 182 nations in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2011); it is a rather significant accomplishment considering the level of corruption that endemically has yoked the country. Ngozi also earned rave reviews as the Managing Director of the World Bank from 2007-2011, holds a Ph.D in regional economic development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and led the Paris Club negotiations of a reschedule of Nigeria’s debt.
She has plenty of recent and relevant experience, post global financial crisis, and so it seems she’d be the best fit of the three, since Columbia’s José Antonio Ocampo’s last stint as finance minister was for a shorter span (1996-98), with a shaky record, where he oversaw a deficit expansion. The United States’ choice is also well-regarded and is a great humanitarian dedicated to effecting progress on these interrelated issues of education, health and development, but he hasn’t the level of experience in any comparable manner to Okonjo-Iweala — since his experience lies mostly with positions in academe — or positions which are limited in scope compared to the one he has just become a candidate for. As the Economist notes:
Mr Kim, the head of a university in New England, has done a lot of good things in his life, but the closest he has come to running a global body was as head of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organisation—not a post requiring tough choices between, say, infrastructure, health and education. He pioneered trials of aid programmes before they became fashionable and set up an outfit called Partners in Health which does fine work in Haiti and Peru. But this is a charity, not a development bank. Had Mr Obama not nominated him, he would be on no one’s shortlist to lead the World Bank. (Indeed he is a far worse example of Western arrogance than Christine Lagarde, whom the Europeans shoehorned into the IMF job last year: the French finance minister plainly had the CV for the job.)
Nonetheless, America’s influence on this matter does loom rather large since it is still the world’s leading economy and historically the head of the World Bank has been American, and so to not take John Yong Kim as a serious prospect is folly. And not only that, the position — while it is about handling a financial institution committed to development in a straight sense — its larger goal is going to be influenced by two things Mr. Kim knows rather well: education and health. These factor immensely in development, and not just the attracting of foreign capital, because development is also about securing human capital. As The Financial Times published:
This newspaper has acknowledged that, were Mr Kim to be selected, he could be a good choice. His background in health fits well with the Bank’s broader development goals, while his managerial record at the World Health Organisation shows that he could be effective at implementing these aims.
This newspaper has acknowledged that, were Mr Kim to be selected, he could be a good choice. His background in health fits well with the Bank’s broader development goals, while his managerial record at the World Health Organisation shows that he could be effective at implementing these aims.
But the Bank needs more than this. Its new leader should have a command of macroeconomics, the respect of leaders of both the funding and the funded countries, and the management skills to implement his or her vision. These requirements make Ms Okonjo-Iweala the best person for the role.
Ms Okonjo-Iweala has real-world experience of policy-making in one of the most challenging developing countries. Her experience in tackling corruption would be helpful in the battle against the misuse of Bank funds. While her record as a finance minister is not flawless, her reforming drive has earned her credibility with the international community. That, and her charismatic personality, should help her to rally support for the Bank.
But unlike Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, who has shown a commitment to growth in her nation — and importantly a poor nation at that, dealing with many of the very same issues she’d be addressing in the other nations in her bailiwick if she assumes the job — Mr. Kim has some issues in proving that he is a full-hearted supporter of actual economic development, at least to some; since he once wrote in a book entitled Dying for Growth “the quest for growth in GDP and corporate profits has in fact worsened the lives of millions of men and women.” While I understand what he in fact is saying about the darker aspects of growth, regardless of whether someone of a believed academic anti-business conspiracy or a belief in a uniformed philosophy by those in the academy to slag big-biz; such things simply do not go over well with the very businesses he would attempt to court to bring development to these beleaguered nations. The Economist is not so understanding about this point, however:
Were Mr Kim hoping to lead Occupy Wall Street, such views would be unremarkable. But the purposes of the World Bank, according to its articles of agreement, are “to promote private foreign investment…[and to] encourage international investment for the development of the productive resources of members.” The Bank promotes growth because growth helps the poor. If Mr Kim disagrees, he should stick to medicine.
Further, for purely meritocratic reasonings it would be rather safe to assume that the transition on the job for Ngozi Onkonjo-Iweala and the consistent and symbolic message that the World Bank would send in placing a well-credentialed woman in the position who has experience on these matters, would be logical, especially considering that a trope of development has been the notion that development’s frontline resides with women. That is not to say that placing other candidates in the post wouldn’t be logical, however. What the right answer is, I’m not particularly sure, but there are only two actual candidates it seems, with Mr. Ocampo being on the outside. On the one, the record of Ngozi Onkonjo-Iweala should not be overlooked and it seems high time that not just a woman, but a candidate whose life is intimately connected to the experience and struggles of the developing nations ascends to the post.
On the other hand, development of these nations needs not just relevant experience, but big ideas and an understanding of global health issues and the education challenges at a very complex and expertise level that would only be met by Jim Yong Kim’s life’s work, who holds an incalculable level of relevant experience in the area. I’d assume, it would be best if both candidates skill sets could be utilized as both are needed, in an ideal situation. But if merit wins, as it should, and which is the safe call, The Economist is correct; Nagozi Onkonjo-Iweala should be the next president of the World Bank. But merit (as defined by just well-chronicled experience) has some blind spots, and in that regard Ngozi Onkonjo-Iweala should still look to utilize Jim Yong Kim, if she does become the president; and make him an indispensable tool to achieve the goal of lifting these nations’ lots.
Read “Hats Off to Ngozi” at The Economist [Here]
Read “The Right Leader for the World Bank” at The Financial Times [Here]
Read “Why Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Wants to Run the World Bank” at The New York Times [Here]
