Development economics needs to better help policymakers - Zoellick

In a speech ahead of the Bank's Annual Meetings in Washington, Zoellick said the global economic crisis had made the need for a rethink of development economics even more compelling. Development knowledge should become "multi-polar" to recognize the rising importance of developing countries as new poles of growth and experience.

"There is a new opportunity, and certainly a pressing need, for dynamism in development economics.  Software has brought new tools; the Internet has brought new communications; rising economies have brought new experiences," he told an audience at Georgetown University. "We need to listen and democratize development economics."