*Economist* forum on Justin Lin and banking in developing countries

Lin is chief economist at the World Bank.  You will find the forum here and it includes responses by Antoinette Schoer, Ross Levine, Abhijit Banerjee, Luigi Zingales, Mark Thoma, and others.  My comment is here.  Excerpt:

I can't decide whether I agree with everything in this essay or disagree with everything in this essay. 

I
see Mr Lin using the words “should”, “need to”, and phrases like “what
matter most” or “not the way to go”. But who or what is the active
agent here? The country’s home government? The World Bank? When it
comes to all these banking systems, are we simply rooting for
particular paths and outcomes–such as small and simple banks–or is Mr
Lin making policy recommendations about how to get there? We never
know.

Meanwhile, via Kottke, here is the World Cup Stacking Record (recommended).