Coruscation

The World Bank's traditional role has been to finance specific projects that foster economic development, whereas the I.M.F.'s goal is to safeguard the global monetary system. But many people, particularly in the developing world, have long questioned whether the economic prescriptions that these two lofty institutions hand down from Washington -- essentially: liberalize, privatize and deregulate -- have done anything but advance the interests of wealthy nations like the United States. That the I.M.F. is now championing deeply unpopular austerity measures for Greece, where street protests continued last week, only sharpens that point.