When in doubt, lend more. The modus operandi that has inspired the World Bank since its creation in 1944 is still in operation. Jim Yong Kim, who took over as president in 2012, has had a torrid time trying to impose his management ideas on the perennially fractious and fractured organisation. Now he is asking the bank’s shareholder countries for an increase in its capital base.

不能确定的话，就加大放贷吧。自世界银行(World Bank) 1944年成立以来一直指引该机构的操作方式依然在发挥作用。2012年接任世行行长的金墉(Jim Yong Kim)试图把自己的管理理念贯彻到这个长期难以驾驭和各自为政的组织，为此经历了一段艰难的时期。如今，他要求世行的股东国帮助增加该行的资本基础。

He is unlikely to get his way soon. The US Congress in particular is no fan of doling out cash to multilateral agencies. Yet even in a more conducive political environment, it is hard to see that increasing the bank’s capacity without reforming its fundamental model will make much difference in tackling the most pressing problems in the developing countries it is meant to serve.

他不太可能很快实现自己的愿望。美国国会对于向多边机构拨款尤其不感兴趣。然而，即使在更有利的政治环境中，也很难看到在不改革世行基本模式的情况下，增加其资本基础将对解决发展中国家（世行应服务的对象）最紧迫的问题产生多大实效。

Despite multiple reorganisations, the bank is an institution in search of a unique selling proposition. Its traditional role was to lend (and give grants) to individual countries, for infrastructure projects and more recently to support structural reform. But the expansion of large-scale private capital markets has usurped this function. The bank increased its lending during the financial crisis as private markets seized up, but has since scaled back.

尽管经过了多次重组，世行仍是一家寻找独特卖点的机构。其传统角色是贷款给（或资助）个别国家，用于基础设施项目以及（近年来）支持经济结构改革。但大规模私人资本市场的扩张已经取代了世行的这个功能。金融危机期间私人市场失灵时，世行增加了放贷，但此后贷款规模又逐渐缩减。

More recently, its role has been supplanted by the proliferation of nimbler regional development banks such as the African Development Bank and the Andean Development Corporation, some of which have weaker social and environmental safeguards constraining their activities. Most recently, the World Bank’s declining relative influence was underlined by the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will recycle some of China’s vast foreign exchange reserves to its neighbours.

近年来，世行的角色被不断涌现的更为灵活的地区开发银行取代，如非洲开发银行(African Development Bank)、安第斯开发公司(Andean Development Corporation)等，其中一些银行在制约其业务活动的社会和环境保障机制上较弱。最近，亚洲基础设施投资银行（AIIB，简称亚投行）的创建突显了世行不断衰落的相对影响力，亚投行将把中国庞大外汇储备的一部分投入其邻国。

Increasing the bank’s capital base will not reverse this decline. The scale of the developing world’s infrastructure needs will ensure the bank remains a small player. Nor is the bank likely to be given more money because of Mr Kim’s contention that more aid is needed to help countries hit the new UN “sustainable development goals”. Those targets are a mess, comprising 17 objectives divided into 169 subcategories, many hopelessly vague. In any case, it is past time to abandon the mechanistic idea that aid can be fed into the system and a predictable development gain emerge.

增加世行的资本基础不会扭转这种颓势。发展中国家基础设施需求的规模意味着，世行注定只能发挥较小的作用。世行也不大可能因为金墉断言需要更多援助来帮助各国实现联合国最新出炉的“可持续发展目标”而获得更多资金。这些目标本身就是一团糟，包括17个大目标以及169个子目标，其中很多含糊地无可救药。无论如何，世界早就应该放弃这样一种机械式的观念，即只要向体制内输入援助，就能取得可预见的发展成就。

There are plenty of gaps to be plugged in the collective global effort to make the human race richer, healthier and safer. Research into new strains of crops, cures for diseases in poor countries and new technologies to slow or mitigate climate change are undersupplied by the patchwork of government, charitable and private sector effort.

在使人类变得更富裕、更健康和更安全的全球集体努力中，还有大量空白需要填补。研究新的作物品种、治疗贫穷国家疾病的新方法以及减缓或减轻气候变化的新技术，仅靠政府、慈善机构和私营部门的供应是不够的。

Unfortunately, the holes in development finance and expertise do not match the shape of the bank’s existing tools. Despite some effort, an institution set up to lend to individual countries has struggled to broaden its operations. Few countries want to borrow to finance activities with uncertain returns such as agricultural productivity research. Budget cuts have constrained the bank’s ability to make grants to non-country specific projects, and the standalone trust funds the bank runs are also too small to make much of a difference.

令人遗憾的是，发展金融及专业技能方面的漏洞与世行现有工具的形状并不匹配。尽管做了一些努力，为了向个别国家放贷而建立的该机构一直难以扩大自己的业务范围。几乎没有国家愿意借款资助回报不确定的活动（比如农业生产率研究）。预算削减限制了世行资助非国别项目的能力，而该行旗下独立的信托基金规模太小，也起不到多大作用。

These problems are as much the fault of the bank’s shareholders as its managers. Middle-income countries do not want to give up a source of cheap lending to see the money diverted to general good causes. They are misguided.

这些问题是世行股东国及其管理层共同造成的。中等收入国家不想放弃一项廉价贷款的来源，以至于资金被转移到一般的公益事业。它们受到了误导。

The bank’s policy experience makes it a natural source of ideas for growth and development, but its expertise is being underused. Its management and shareholders must find more creative ways of using its money to further its contribution. Ramping up one more source of infrastructure finance for emerging markets is a lesser priority than solving the developing world’s longer-term problems. The bank needs more money less than it needs a new mission.

世行的政策经验使其成为增长和发展理念的天然来源，但其专业知识并未被充分利用。世行的管理层和股东国必须找到更具创意的资金利用方式来扩大其贡献。为新兴市场的基础设施增加一个资金来源，不如解决发展中国家的较长期问题更重要。世行更需要的是新使命，而非更多资金。