Wolfowitz to the rescue!

Having already written about Bush's new pick to head the World Bank once in the past 24 hours, I don't intend to do so again.

Instead, I will merely capitalize on the attention the controversial nod has focused on the Bank by recommending two fairly recent books on economic development that offer interesting insights into the Bretton Woods institutions.

In Why Globalization Works, FT columnist Martin Wolf most notably points out that the IMF isn't all that bad. An unusual argument indeed, when most kind-hearted economics professors and professionals these days bemoan the Fund's one-size-fits-all policy prescriptions. Even though that one prescription is precisely what's needed by each recipient of the Fund's tender loving care, since they all get themselves into crises in exactly the same way.

Meanwhile, whether he intended it to be this way or not, Sebastian Mallaby's The World's Banker presents outgoing Bank head James Wolfensohn as an object lesson in how not to run an international institution. One quickly reaches the conclusion that Wolfensohn was a terrible pick for the job: His boundless energy paled in comparison to his amazing lack of focus, and his scattershot management style didn't help any. Could Wolfowitz be any worse? Certainly not.