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Abstract
So what’s social policy got to do with economic growth? Quite a lot, it would appear, if
one takes the results of cross-country growth regressions at face value, as they are by many
social policy analysts, even as they criticize the findings of the economic policy part of the
very same regressions. I argue that these regressions are deeply problematic, and are
antithetical to social policy analysts’ normal instincts on the importance of country and
community specificity. At the same time, attempts to distinguish social policy from
economic policy in terms of policy objectives is not very successful, while classifying
policy instruments into economic or social also leaves a significant grey area. But the
economic and social policy analysis literatures can indeed be distinguished in their
approaches to understanding the mechanisms of policy transmission. Despite the
difficulties of defining social policy analysis, except in contradistinction to economic
policy analysis, both types of analysis are needed to advance understanding of policy
impact and design of policy. The Bank should (i) play a lead role in developing and
assessing such multidisciplinary approaches, (ii) move to a much more outcomes based
system of aid allocation in recognition of the country-specific complexities of linkage
between (economic or social) policy and outcomes, and (iii) understand itself better as an
institution, and its institutional footprint in countries where it is a big player.