World Development Report 2002 : Building institutions for markets

The report moves towards a deeper understanding of market-supporting institutions and a better appreciation of how people could build such institutions. It presents four main ons: design these institutions to complement what exists (other supporting institutions, human capabilities, and available technologies); innovate to identify institutions that work, and drop those that do not; connect communities of market players through open information flows and open trade; and promote competition among jurisdictions, firms and individuals. The report advances the development agenda at a time when the development community was recognizing that policies alone were not sufficient to secure successful broad-based growth and poverty reduction. It provides ons on the key elements of institution-building that are required for policy reforms to be effective. This WDR was the first to finance the simplification of business regulations project (which has gained wide currency). Finally, the WDR's focus on information and the media was influential.