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This paper examines the promise of greater impact and accountability of private foreign aid. We examine the status of accountability in foreign aid from governments and how the emergence of private foreign aid is resulting in new thinking about accountability in foreign aid. The paper discusses how technology-enabled marketplaces can improve accountability in foreign aid through rating service providers, remote monitoring, and especially through enhanced beneficiary feedback mechanisms. We conclude by arguing that private aid should be seen as a complement and not a substitute for governments, and we contend that private aid can "crowd-in" and induce local governments to provide better services via a demonstration effect, a competition effect, and an "intrinsic pressure" approach that empowers beneficiaries to exercise a greater voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the business opportunities created by the economic and political changes underway in India. Despite short-term political volatility, we believe India's deep-rooted democratic institutions give it systemic resilience and stable economic growth, at rates that will reach 8 to 10 percent within a decade. The early evidence following economic liberalization suggests that India's emerging international competitive advantage--and the corresponding opportunities for multinational corporations--lies not in natural resource industries or low-skill, labor-intensive manufacturing (as in much of Asia), but in skill-intensive tradable services, as exemplified by software. We analyze India's virtual diamond in software and argue that this success will generalize to other knowledge-based services. As a result, India is likely to emerge in the short to medium term as the back office of global corporations and in the medium to long term as a leading provider of knowledge-based tradable services. We also explore the contribution of overseas Indians to India's skill-intensive service exports, contrasting it with the contributions of overseas Chinese to China's manufactured goods exports. We recommend that foreign firms enter India sooner rather than later to seize the emerging opportunities, and that in doing so they pay attention to the considerable differences in business environments among Indian states, rather than focus simply on the policies of the central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the lending conditionalities of international financial institutions (IFI) in the area of governance. Effectiveness of conditionalities in shaping borrower behavior; Problems arising from the aggregation of trade-offs among conditionalities; Consequences of IFI governance on the content and enforcement of conditionalities.

Focuses on the economy and politics of India in 1999. Growth in economy; Factor that affected the growth in the rural sector; Comparison of politics and economy between the beginning and the end of the year.

Describes the political and economic situation in India in 1998. Results of the 12th general elections in February and March 1998 and the elections for state assemblies in various provinces held in November 1998; Economic statistics in 1998; Reforms made to gain economic recovery.