ABCDE 2025 - Welcome Remarks

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A video recording of the welcome remarks on Day 1 of the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics 2025 "Development in the Age of Populism". The speaker is Indermit S. Gill, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.

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00:00 So to kick us off,

00:01 we'll hear from

00:02 Init Gill,

00:03 our

00:04 host

00:05 and World Bank Group chief economist and

00:06 senior vice president for Development Economics.

00:09 In his remarks,

00:10 he'll set the tone for our conference,

00:12 offering his perspective on why,

00:14 on why the intersection of

00:16 populism and development is so critical right now

00:19 and what's at stake for policymakers and practitioners alike

00:22 in the

00:24 over to you.

00:34 Thank you very much,

00:35 uh,

00:36 to,

00:36 to,

00:36 uh,

00:38 thank you to everybody who is joining us online and who is here in person today.

00:43 Uh,

00:43 thank you to the teams that have put together the superb schedule

00:46 of subjects and speakers.

00:49 Uh,

00:49 and thank you to everybody who has traveled

00:51 from faraway places like Singapore and Cambridge,

00:54 England,

00:55 to be here today.

00:56 Uh,

00:56 so on behalf of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,

00:59 the Center for Global Development,

01:01 And the World Bank Group's Institute for Economic Development,

01:05 I'd like to extend a very,

01:06 very warm welcome

01:08 to all of you.

01:09 So normally in July,

01:11 actually,

01:11 it would be a hot welcome,

01:13 but as it turns out,

01:14 the next 4 days

01:16 will be very pleasant for this time of the year in Washington.

01:19 So our visitors have brought us very good weather.

01:22 So we have dedicated this conference to Stan Fisher,

01:26 who as Chief Economist of the World Bank between 1988 and 1990,

01:31 started the ABCDE.

01:33 So I never really met Stan,

01:35 but you didn't have to

01:38 meet him to be impressed by him or to be influenced by him.

01:41 Um,

01:42 just a quick thing about how he spanned,

01:45 uh,

01:47 He spanned the spectrum in terms of ideas,

01:49 but more importantly,

01:50 how he brought people with different ideas together.

01:52 So he taught both at the University of Chicago and MIT.

01:57 He worked both at the World Bank and the IMF.

02:00 He served in top positions both at the Bank of Israel

02:03 and the US Federal Reserve System.

02:06 And he,

02:06 and he worked both as a public servant and on Wall Street,

02:10 putting in a stint towards the end

02:12 at Citigroup.

02:13 So Stan brought ideas and people with competing ideas together,

02:18 um.

02:20 When he lived

02:21 and it looks like

02:23 he is still doing it today.

02:24 Uh,

02:25 so

02:26 today you'll actually start by hearing from

02:29 Muhammed El-Arian

02:31 and Massoud Ahmad,

02:32 who actually worked with him very,

02:33 very closely.

02:35 Uh,

02:36 uh,

02:36 tomorrow morning at this time you will hear

02:38 from

02:39 our,

02:39 our former president Bob Zelllick,

02:41 uh,

02:41 who also worked with Stan,

02:43 and Bob will give the Stan Memorial,

02:45 and the the Stan Fisher Memorial lecture.

02:47 Now,

02:47 ABCDE I think is a wonderful way to celebrate his life.

02:52 Uh,

02:52 I'm sure he's smiling as he's looking down on us.

02:55 So,

02:55 uh,

02:56 that's what I wanted to actually say today.

02:58 But then Kenan just before this told me that I had to,

03:01 uh,

03:02 he,

03:03 uh,

03:03 he had to tell,

03:04 uh,

03:05 that,

03:06 uh,

03:06 he wanted me to tell you why we picked the subject that we picked,

03:09 OK.

03:10 Uh,

03:11 so instead of words,

03:12 I'm going to just show you two pictures,

03:15 one each about the importance of the subject and the,

03:18 and

03:19 our ignorance about the subject.

03:21 OK.

03:22 Uh,

03:22 so this is the first slide

03:24 and it shows why

03:25 we are talking about populism today.

03:28 Uh,

03:28 that red line there is

03:30 the share of populist governments,

03:31 and as you see,

03:32 it's gone up to about 25%.

03:35 Of independent countries and if you look at

03:37 the dark part that's the that would be right

03:40 wing populism and if you look at the left and if you look at the lighter part

03:44 that would be

03:45 left-wing populism and you see that both of those things are

03:48 on the increase so it's not just one end of the spectrum

03:51 that is dominating the other

03:53 even though if you live in Washington you think it's just one of them,

03:55 right?

03:56 Um,

03:57 so that's the first one,

03:58 but the second one

04:00 is about,

04:00 I think our ignorance about it.

04:02 So if you look at the next slide.

04:05 Um,

04:06 So over the last few days I've been

04:09 I've been looking at

04:10 um

04:11 the web and so on and trying to learn about populism.

04:15 So I

04:16 gave this question to something called word hippo.

04:19 I,

04:19 I,

04:19 I didn't know about this thing,

04:20 yeah,

04:21 and I asked them,

04:22 what is the opposite of populism?

04:24 OK,

04:25 and look at the first thing that it says,

04:27 the noun is opposite of support for the concerns of ordinary people.

04:32 OK.

04:33 If you look at that list of things like elitism,

04:36 repression,

04:37 callousness,

04:38 exclusivity,

04:40 indifference,

04:41 etc.

04:42 it's hard to find a word there that you like,

04:45 OK,

04:46 which means

04:47 That I think that our beliefs about our negative beliefs,

04:50 I think most people have negative beliefs about populists

04:54 are based on something

04:56 that

04:57 that that

04:58 that I suspect it's either the fact that you're a moderate and populists are not.

05:04 Or you're an elitist

05:06 and populist or not.

05:09 Um,

05:09 so

05:10 that's all I'm going to say for now.

05:12 Uh,

05:12 and,

05:13 uh,

05:13 you'll hear a lot more from me over the next few days.

05:16 For now,

05:17 I'd like to hear what Masoud and Mohammed

05:19 and Danny and Rachel have to say.

05:22 So I'm not going to be talking

05:23 anymore.

05:25 I'm going to turn it over

05:26 to the next speaker.

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transcript

So to kick us off, we'll hear from Init Gill, our host and World Bank Group chief economist and senior vice president for Development Economics. In his remarks, he'll set the tone for our conference, offering his perspective on why, on why the intersection of populism and development is so critical right now and what's at stake for policymakers and practitioners alike in the over to you. Thank you very much, uh, to, to, uh, thank you to everybody who is joining us online and who is here in person today. Uh, thank you to the teams that have put together the superb schedule of subjects and speakers. Uh, and thank you to everybody who has traveled from faraway places like Singapore and Cambridge, England, to be here today. Uh, so on behalf of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the Center for Global Development, And the World Bank Group's Institute for Economic Development, I'd like to extend a very, very warm welcome to all of you. So normally in July, actually, it would be a hot welcome, but as it turns out, the next 4 days will be very pleasant for this time of the year in Washington. So our visitors have brought us very good weather. So we have dedicated this conference to Stan Fisher, who as Chief Economist of the World Bank between 1988 and 1990, started the ABCDE. So I never really met Stan, but you didn't have to meet him to be impressed by him or to be influenced by him. Um, just a quick thing about how he spanned, uh, He spanned the spectrum in terms of ideas, but more importantly, how he brought people with different ideas together. So he taught both at the University of Chicago and MIT. He worked both at the World Bank and the IMF. He served in top positions both at the Bank of Israel and the US Federal Reserve System. And he, and he worked both as a public servant and on Wall Street, putting in a stint towards the end at Citigroup. So Stan brought ideas and people with competing ideas together, um. When he lived and it looks like he is still doing it today. Uh, so today you'll actually start by hearing from Muhammed El-Arian and Massoud Ahmad, who actually worked with him very, very closely. Uh, uh, tomorrow morning at this time you will hear from our, our former president Bob Zelllick, uh, who also worked with Stan, and Bob will give the Stan Memorial, and the the Stan Fisher Memorial lecture. Now, ABCDE I think is a wonderful way to celebrate his life. Uh, I'm sure he's smiling as he's looking down on us. So, uh, that's what I wanted to actually say today. But then Kenan just before this told me that I had to, uh, he, uh, he had to tell, uh, that, uh, he wanted me to tell you why we picked the subject that we picked, OK. Uh, so instead of words, I'm going to just show you two pictures, one each about the importance of the subject and the, and our ignorance about the subject. OK. Uh, so this is the first slide and it shows why we are talking about populism today. Uh, that red line there is the share of populist governments, and as you see, it's gone up to about 25%. Of independent countries and if you look at the dark part that's the that would be right wing populism and if you look at the left and if you look at the lighter part that would be left-wing populism and you see that both of those things are on the increase so it's not just one end of the spectrum that is dominating the other even though if you live in Washington you think it's just one of them, right? Um, so that's the first one, but the second one is about, I think our ignorance about it. So if you look at the next slide. Um, So over the last few days I've been I've been looking at um the web and so on and trying to learn about populism. So I gave this question to something called word hippo. I, I, I didn't know about this thing, yeah, and I asked them, what is the opposite of populism? OK, and look at the first thing that it says, the noun is opposite of support for the concerns of ordinary people. OK. If you look at that list of things like elitism, repression, callousness, exclusivity, indifference, etc. it's hard to find a word there that you like, OK, which means That I think that our beliefs about our negative beliefs, I think most people have negative beliefs about populists are based on something that that that that I suspect it's either the fact that you're a moderate and populists are not. Or you're an elitist and populist or not. Um, so that's all I'm going to say for now. Uh, and, uh, you'll hear a lot more from me over the next few days. For now, I'd like to hear what Masoud and Mohammed and Danny and Rachel have to say. So I'm not going to be talking anymore. I'm going to turn it over to the next speaker.

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DEC Part 1 Day 1 Welcome Remarks

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