When the World Bank decided to concern itself in a major way with poverty, education and rural life, it exposed itself to a large number of criticisms. Quite a few of them are taken up in these two interesting investigations which try to check claims and aims against results. Miss Hürni, a Swiss, is a good deal more satisfied with the Bank's performance than is Mr. van de Laar, a Hollander who used to work there. He thinks too little has been done for the poorest people and poorest countries and wants more developing-country influence in the Bank, more publicity and less Bank influence on the whole process of development finance.