Let there be no doubt: the fact that Lin advances a nuanced argument for strategic government intervention – as part of his larger ‘new structural economics’ – is an important new advance in thinking about economic development. The World Bank, of which he is the firstever non-G7 chief economist, is now not particularly important as a source of capital for developing countries (except during global crises); but it remains very important as a source of knowledge, including knowledge of development strategy. Its research department is by far the biggest center of such thinking in the world, and other aid agencies and many NGOs tend to begin their thinking by asking what the World Bank says on the subject and, often, stopping there.
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