Date & Time
July 22 - 25, 2025 ET
ABCDE 2025 is dedicated to the memory of Stanley Fischer (1943-2025), who established this influential forum in 1989. His vision and leadership have left a lasting legacy, inspiring generations of development economists worldwide. We honor Fischer's contributions and continue to build upon the foundation he laid for collaborative and innovative economic research. As Fischer emphasized, "the ultimate objective of the series is, by enhancing the knowledge base, to improve both member country and Bank policymaking."
The World Bank Group’s Annual Conference on Development Economics—ABCDE—is a 36-year-old forum to stimulate an exchange of ideas between leaders in global policy discussions and researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners from the Bank’s member countries. Established in 1989 and organized by the World Bank’s Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC), ABCDE became the premier venue for cutting-edge insights on how to tackle the most pressing challenges of development. Several younger researchers presenting papers went on to become Nobel Prize winners. The conference also played a role in shaping the global consensus on development policy.
Beginning in 2024, ABCDE is co-sponsored by partnership that rotates every two years. For the 2025 conference, the Center for Global Development and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy are the World Bank Group’s partners.
By most measures of human progress, the world is in better shape today than it has ever been—in life expectancy, in per capita GDP, in literacy rates, among other things. Yet, profound dissatisfaction has taken root in many countries, at every level of income. The global economic system that has powered much of this progress over the last 80 years is now widely regarded as broken. Nearly two-thirds of the global electorate went to the polls last year to register their displeasure regarding income inequality, cultural insecurity, and elite institutions.
Populism, in short, is ascendant to an unusually synchronized degree, fueled by a fragmenting public consensus on the policies needed for economic progress. It will pose a formidable development challenge in the coming years.
ABCDE—scheduled for July 22 - 25, 2025 and organized by the World Bank in conjunction with the Center for Global Development and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy—aims to assess the developments during the last decade, analyze the causes, and adjust our approach to economic progress.
Bringing together some of the world’s leading economic thinkers, the conference will help identify the best way forward—with deep dives on key topics such as artificial intelligence, migration, nutrition and health, and pollution, and a geographical focus that spans the world. Attendees will explore geopolitical shifts; unilateralism and multilateralism; and growth and opportunity.
All times listed below are in Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Tuesday, July 22, 2025Preston Auditorium, World Bank Headquarters |
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08:00 – 09:00 | Registration and Breakfast |
09:00 – 09:10 | Opening Remarks |
09:10 – 09:50 | A Fireside Chat with World Bank Group PresidentAjay Banga, World Bank Group President Masood Ahmed, President Emeritus of the Center for Global Development |
09:50 – 10:30 | Keynote AddressMohamed El-Erian, President of Queens' College at Cambridge University |
10:30 – 11:15 | Plenary Panel: Development in the Age of PopulismCHAIR: Justin Sandefur, Lead for Economic Growth, Low-and Middle-Income Countries Program, Open Philanthropy
SPEAKERS:
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11:15 – 11:30 | Coffee Break |
11:30 – 13:10 | Session 1: Reviving MultilateralismKEYNOTE ADDRESS: Danny Quah, Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics, Lee Kuan Yew School
CHAIR: Matteo Bugamelli, Executive Director, World Bank
PANELISTS:
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13:10 – 14:30 | Lunch Break |
14:30 – 16:00 | Session 2: Artificial IntelligenceCHAIR: Gaurav Nayyar, Director of the World Development Report 2026, World Bank
PANELISTS:
DISCUSSANT: Han Sheng Chia, Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development |
16:00 – 16:15 | Coffee Break |
16:15 – 17:45 | Session 3: PollutionCHAIR: Somik Lall, Senior Adviser, Office of the Chief Economist and Director of Development Policy, World Bank
PANELISTS:
DISCUSSANT: Carolyn Fischer, Lead Economist and Research Manager, Development Research Group, World Bank |
Wednesday, July 23, 2025Preston Auditorium, World Bank Headquarters |
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09:00 – 09:30 | Stanley Fischer Memorial Lecture: Geopolitics and DevelopmentSPEAKER: Robert B. Zoellick, former President of the World Bank Group (2007-12), former Deputy Secretary of State (2005-06), former U.S. Trade Representative (2001-05) |
09:30 – 11:00 | Session 4: Geopolitical ShiftsCHAIR: Aaditya Mattoo, Chief Economist, East Asia and Pacific, World Bank
PANELISTS:
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11:00 – 11:15 | Coffee Break |
11:15 – 11:45 | ABCDE 2025 LectureIndermit S. Gill, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics |
11:45 – 13:15 | Session 5: Africa Growth and OpportunityCHAIR: Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, President and CEO of the African Center for Economic Transformation
PANELISTS:
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13:15 – 14:45 | Lunch Break |
14:45 – 16:00 | A Book Talk with Keyu JinThe New China Playbook Beyond Socialism and CapitalismCHAIR: Indermit S. Gill, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics
SPEAKER: Keyu Jin, Professor of Finance, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
Thursday, July 24, 2025Birdsall House, Center for Global Development |
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09:30 – 09:45 | Opening RemarksRachel Glennerster, President of the Center for Global Development |
09:45 – 11:15 | Session 6: Poverty, Education, and Health in an Era of Unilateralism, Conflict, and Climate ChangeCHAIR: Rachel Glennerster, President of the Center for Global Development
PANELISTS:
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11:15 – 11:45 | Coffee Break |
11:45 – 13:00 | Keynote Address: India’s Economic Progress and What It Means For The Global EconomyCHAIR: Indermit S. Gill, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics
SPEAKER: Arvind Panagariya, Chairman of the Sixteenth Finance Commission of India and Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University |
13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break |
14:00 – 15:30 | Session 7: How can Development Economics Meet the Moment? Practice, Research, and Teaching in a Time of Unilateralism and PolycrisisCHAIR: Markus Goldstein, Vice President of the Center for Global Development
PANELISTS:
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15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
16:00 – 17:30 | Session 8: Education PolicyCHAIR: Deon Filmer, Director of the Development Research Group, World Bank
PANELISTS:
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Friday, July 25, 2025Birdsall House, Center for Global Development |
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09:15 – 10:45 | Session 9: Agricultural Markets and NutritionCHAIR: Eeshani Kandpal, Senior Fellow and Research Manager, Center for Global Development
PANELISTS:
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10:45 – 11:15 | Coffee Break |
11:15 – 12:45 | Session 10: MigrationCHAIR: Dany Bahar, Senior Fellow and Director of Migration Displacement and Humanitarian Policy Program, Center for Global Development
PANELISTS:
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12:45 – 13:00 | Closing RemarksMamta Murthi, Vice President for People Vice Presidency at the World Bank |
13:00 – 14:30 | Lunch |
"Development in the Age of Populism" by Indermit Gill, Rachel Glennerster, and Danny Quah
Available at World Bank | Center for Global Development (CGD) | Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY)
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