How to empower Africa’s multilateral development banks

Boosting the capital base of multilateral development banks in Africa has been a perennial problem. Finding a solution — which has taken on new urgency as international development institutions continue to scale down concessional financing — requires examining the underlying causes. For starters, the structural asymmetries embedded in the global financial system have resulted in capital flows from low-income African countries to rich countries, a pattern known as the Lucas paradox.