Main Responsibilities Of An Economist At The World Bank
Currently retired and writing a book, Pedro's World Bank career involved initially working as a country economist for Ecuador, "try[ing] to convince the government to improve their economic policies" to reduce poverty. Later, the economist shifted to consulting and authored a book on project analysis, focusing on ensuring projects benefited the country and not just the implementing institution.
International Development, Economic Policy, Poverty Reduction, Project Analysis, International Economics
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Job Title
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Pedro Belli
Economist
The World Bank
Amherst College
University of California, Berkeley - PhD, Economics
Psychology
Education, Government & Public Sector
Consulting
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. The World Bank's mission is poverty reduction, achieved through improving economic policies in borrowing countries.
2. The author's work involved advising governments on economic policies, specifically in Ecuador, with a focus on maximizing resource use for poverty reduction.
3. His responsibilities later shifted to project analysis, emphasizing the selection of projects with positive impacts on national welfare, beyond just the involved institution.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
Currently, I am retired and have no responsibilities to anyone but myself. My current focus is writing my book. Before this, as an academician, my main responsibilities were teaching and conducting research.
While at the World Bank, my responsibilities were varied. Initially, I was a country economist for Ecuador. My role was to observe the economic situation in the country and encourage the government to improve their economic policies.
The World Bank's mission is to reduce global poverty. Therefore, our purpose in lending money to any country, including Ecuador, was to help them improve their economic policies, foster growth, and consequently reduce poverty. This was my primary concern during my tenure at the World Bank.
This concern continued into my retirement years when I worked as a consultant for the World Bank, performing similar duties. My specific areas of focus were industrial policies and foreign trade policies.
Later, my role at the World Bank shifted. I wrote a book on project analysis, which provided criteria for selecting projects that would benefit the country, not just the institution undertaking the project. For instance, with industrial projects, we had to ensure that financed projects genuinely improved the country's welfare and weren't solely beneficial to the implementing entity.
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