Rodrik Student advices IMF

From Molly in Liberia, a student of MPAID (which Rodrik calls the the best development curriculum in the world);

Short of revamping the infrastructure of international financial institutions, a low hanging fruit that the IMF should consider is salary compensation for senior civil servants in developing countries. Relying on the good will and civic mindedness of grossly underpaid civil servants is simply not sustainable. If the IMF and its donor siblings are serious about their lofty goals of promoting macroeconomic stability and economic growth, they need to adequately support the only team that can pull off a home run: the governments they work with. Otherwise, even an all star IMF team may just as well sit on the bench.

I think that's the last thing IMF should be involved in--may be some World Bank projects already involve such remuneration packages. I doubt whether salary compensation could have a significant effect on corruption.

I think IMF has done a pretty good job at strengthening Central Banks in poor countries including through IMF Institute trainings- this is an area where World Bank and other multilaterals need to learn from the Fund.

For Discussion: Do poor countries and their governments gain from visiting 'budding' experts often from western ivy league universities? One program that has done a pretty good job is ODI Fellowship Scheme in UK.