Monday, November 23, 2009

Global Public Goods

The Zedillo Commission Report on World Bank Reform wants to "create the foundation for far-reaching reform of the World Bank as the premier global financial institution supporting sustainable global development and poverty reduction."  Among other things, it identifies the provision of "global public goods" as one of the three main challenges facing the World Bank:

Supporting the provision of global public goods: The report identifies global public goods, such as environmental protection, response to epidemics, protection of global financial stability, etc., as an important challenge, but does not specify what role the World Bank should play and what reforms are needed for it to play this role. In terms of funding, it will be important to explore making the World Bank the principal conduit for global public goods funding.

Talk about public goods.  How might this idea extend to "global public goods"?  Explain one other global public good not mentioned in the article, and why you think it is a global public good.  Why might it be important for the World Bank to become "the principal conduit for global public goods funding"?