World Bank president speaks on gap between rich and poor states

World Bank president James Wolfensohn addressed campus audiences in two lectures delivered last Thursday and Friday. The two speeches, entitled "Poverty in an Age of Plenty" and "Tackling World Poverty," were sponsored by the Center for Jewish Life and the Priscilla Glickman '92/Ivy Club Speaker Series.

Wolfensohn spoke about the changing mission of the World Bank. Established 55 years ago as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, its mission was to respond to post-World War II reconstruction needs. Now a multi-agency organization, much of its focus has shifted to dealing with problems faced by the poorest among its 185 member countries.

Calling the unequal distribution of wealth and resources between rich and poor countries morally unfair, Wolfensohn spoke of the challenges of economic inequity and the forces, such as fundamentalism, that are unleashed by it.

"One cannot think you can put up a wall and deal with it when you feel you can," he said Thursday. "You don't need 25 to 30 years. You design a framework for addressing global poverty in a way that shares the balance between rich and poor."

He faulted developed country governments for protectionist trade policies and failing to provide the overseas assistance they have promised.

"It doesn't make sense to get countries to reform agriculture and industry if they have to rely on local markets that are non-existent," he said. "The opening of markets is not a wonderful thing when nations are spending 300 million per year on agricultural subsidies."

Wider access to markets could improve incomes by $75-100 billion in the affected countries, he said.

"We need to realize that growing up in the U.S., Australia, or Germany is no longer growing up in a single country. We are growing up on a planet that is already part of our lives in a way that few recognize. The idea of poverty in a world of wealth is unsustainable, for the poor and for the rich," he added.

He closed his second speech by enjoining students to become active in the fight against global poverty. "You have a responsibility to assess the message I'm giving you. If you happen to conclude that it has some merit, it becomes a lifelong responsibility to talk about it and act on it and lead a new generation . . . If you don't change, no one will change."

Though Wolfensohn indicated surprise that there were no protests at his speech, several questions posed by audience members focused on the practical actions of the World Bank and their impact on human rights, poverty and the balance of financial and political power.

In response to one of most critical questions, from an audience member concerned about the World Bank's "complacence with the system of poverty and the over-concentration of power in the hands of too few organizations," Wolfensohn replied, "I think we've responded to the debate and opened up to civil society more than at any other time. It's what I'm proud of . . . We think not about how we can screw up the world, but how we can make a difference. We've made a lot of difference, though we've also made some mistakes."

Wilson School professor Stanley Katz said he was pleased with Wolfensohn's lecture. "I am of course pleased to have someone I take to be a liberal at the helm of the Bank, and I was sympathetic to most of the policy directions he outlined," he said in an e-mail. "I recognize that nothing he says or does can respond to the most searching criticisms of the Bank, but I am happy to have it in his hands, and I thought he made a good case for his point of view. I also thought he was gracious and responsive in the question period."