Series - Chronological files

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-14-01

Title

Chronological files

Date(s)

  • May 1973 - March 1976, January 1980 - December 1988, January 1984 - December 1988 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

3.35 linear feet of textual records

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This series contains copies of Vinod Dubey's outgoing memoranda, letters, telexes, and routing slips that he generated while he was working in the Europe, Middle East and North Africa Region (EMENA), the Country Policy Department (CPD), and the Economic Advisory Staff (EAS). For some of the periods covered by this series, Dubey's incoming correspondence is filed with the copy of his related outgoing correspondence.

For the period that Dubey was a Senior Economist in EMENA, the files include copies of his outgoing letters, memoranda, and reports and copies of memoranda and letters that he prepared for the signatures of others. Very little incoming correspondence or attachments to outgoing correspondence is included for this period. Among the outgoing correspondence are his minutes of the EMENA senior economists' biweekly meetings; his comments on draft papers and reports, especially regarding Country Program Papers and economic and sector work; the Back-to-Office reports from his missions; his reviews of research proposals; and the minutes he prepared for the research proposal review panels on which he served. Most of his correspondence was sent to the Director, Development Policy Staff, the EMENA senior vice president, and other EMENA economists.

After Dubey became Chief Economist for EMENA in October 1975, the files primarily contain copies of incoming documents that he transmitted to the EMENA program departments and senior economists with requests for their comments. There is little showing his input into policy development; the files consist mostly of copies of his routing slips, some without an incoming document attached.

Dubey's files are much richer for the period beginning in January 1984 when he was a senior adviser in the Country Program Department (CPD). The records reflect his responsibilities for: coordinating Bank relations with the IMF, the Paris Club, and the OECD Export Credit Group; preparing policy papers for the director of CPD; advising the Regions on adjustment lending; directing the CPD Secretariat for the Loan Committee; and preparing the agenda for Loan Committee meetings.

Specific topics covered include preparations for the Bank-Fund Seminar on assisting member countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, May 22 - 24, 1985; planning for seminars on Policy Based Lending held June 18 - 20, 1985 and December 11 - 13, 1985; and the scheduling of Country Policy Papers for review by the Operations Policy Subcommittee. Much of Dubey's correspondence beginning in September 1984 concerns his drafting of a Board paper on Bank-Fund collaboration. None of the drafts is found in the files, but there is extensive correspondence with Bank and Fund staff concerning the preparation of the report which was issued in the spring1985.

Specific documents of note are: his May 23, 1984 report, Bank-Fund Collaboration: A Brief Historical Note, which is a compilation of the documents relating to Bank/Fund collaboration from May 1946 to April 1981; a November 28, 1984 memo to Files on the role of the World Bank in theParis Club; a December 14, 1984 draft of his paper Policy Based Lending and the World Bank; his reports from attendance at OECD Export Credit Group and Paris Club meetings; and the agenda he prepared for meetings of the Operations Policy Subcommittee and of the Loan Committee.

Most of his outgoing correspondence for this period was sent to Regional Chief Economists; the SVP for Operations (SVPOP); the Vice President for Operations Policy (OPSVP); the Director of CPD; the secretary of the Research Policy Committee; IMF managers; and staff/members of the Paris Club, the OECD, and the International Labor Organization (ILO). A number of his memoranda are written to the files and primarily concern meetings he attended on structural adjustment lending.

After Dubey became Director of the Country Policy Department in January 1986, his files reflect less of his role in policy development. The bulk of the files for this period consist of his agenda for meetings of the Loan Committee and the Operations Policy Subcommittee. The files often contain copies of his incoming correspondence, much of which was forwarded to CPD staff.

After Dubey's appointment as director of EAS in June 1987, he continued many of the duties he had in CPD: coordinating the Bank's interaction with the Paris Club, the Berne Union, the OECD Export Credit Group, and the International Monetary Fund; reviewing country strategy papers and Structural Adjustment Policy Framework Papers (PFPs); providing the SVP Operations with analysis on operational issues and policy initiatives; serving as the Secretariat to the Operations Committee; and providing advice and support to the Regional staff on major policy questions, especially regarding country strategies, adjustment operations, and country economic and sector work.

nA large portion of his records for the EAS period consists of agenda, schedules, and postscripts for Operations Committee meetings and correspondence regarding the preparation and review of documents for discussion by the Committee. Othercorrespondence concerns the preparation of documents for the signatures of the Senior Vice President, Operations and President Conable and his review of research proposals.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

Accruals are not expected.

System of arrangement

Records are arranged chronologically.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

An inventory list is available here.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

  • See Records of the Operations (Loan) Committee (WB IBRD/IDA LC).

  • Also see Records of the Office of the Chief Economist -- Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) -- Chronological Files of EAS Director (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-80), for Dubey's chronological files as EAS Director from January 1989 to December 1990.

Related descriptions

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Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

6 October 2011

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Sources

Accession area