The correspondence in this series documents Stanley Fischer's wide range of responsibilities as DECVP. Fischer did not officially assume the duties of DECVP until January 1988 and much of the correspondence in the series prior to that time concerns organization of the VPDEC Front Office, personnel matters, and scheduling of meetings. A significant amount of his correspondence is from the directors and division chiefs of the International Economics Department (IEC), the Country Economics Department (CEC), the Economic Development Institute (EDI), and his Front Office staff. Incoming communications are found with some of Fischer's outgoing memoranda, letters, e-mail, handwritten notes, and other communications. Copies of policy briefs and outlines for studies and papers, policy papers, and research papers on the debt crisis, structural and sectoral adjustment lending, trade policy, environmental issues, and other international economic issues were forwarded from the divisions and the Front Office for Fischer's review and/or further action. Structuring of work programs, proposals for the annual World Development Report (WDR) and drafts of the WDR, World Debt Tables, and proposals for EDI training are also subjects of Fischer's correspondence.
As Chief Economist, Fischer served as principal economic adviser to President Barber Conable (EXC) and to W. David Hopper, Senior Vice President, Policy, Planning and Research [PPRSV] and Hopper's successor, Wilfried P. Thalwitz, Senior Vice President, Policy, Research and External Affairs [PPRSV]. Fischer's memos, informal notes, and other communications with PPRSV are found throughout the series. Memos and informal notes sent in his role as Chief Economist to Moeen A Qureshi, Senior Vice President, Operations (OPNSV) and Ernest Stern, Senior Vice President, Finance (FNSV) concern matters coming before the Operations Committee.
Found with correspondence for 1988 are Fischer's briefing papers for Conable for a June 1988 meeting at the Bank with the Director-General, GATT, Arthur Dunkel and for an August 1988 meeting with Julius Katz, Chairman of the Uruguay Round Negotiating Group on the Functioning of the GATT System (FOGS); Fischer's background paper containing information for an October 1988 meeting between Conable and Romano Prodi, President of the Instituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI); memos prepared for Conable on the debt problem (May 1988) and Argentine loans (August 1988); and talking points for Conable's May 1988 speech at the brookings Institution.Among the 1989 correspondence are talking points Fischer prepared for a Conable-Camdessus luncheon meeting on proposals to improve collaboration between the Bank and IMF; a policy brief prepared for Conable on Experience in Trade Reform (April 1989); an informal memo on the Brady Plan debt strategy (April 1989); a draft memo to Conable on World Bank Intellectual Leadership (September 1989); and a formal proposal to Conable regarding establishment of a Socialist Economy Reform Unit within CEC (October 1989)which was approved the following month. Among the 1990 correspondence are several memos containing talking points for Conable-Camdessus luncheon meetings.
Fischer also corresponded with OPNSV regarding the classification of economists. Found throughout the series are Fischer's memos announcing meetings of the Economists Review Panel which he chaired, announcing actions taken by the panels, addressing appeals to the panels' actions, and inviting Bank staff to fill panel vacancies. The series also contains Fischer's correspondence as Chairman of the EDI Advisory Board and the Research Committee and his correspondence with the Research Administrator (RAD). Some Fischer correspondence with the Vice President, Sector Policy and Research [PREVP], Visvanathan Rajagopalan, is also part of the series.
Back-to-Office (BTO) Reports prepared by Fischer following trips to Argentina, Germany, Switzerland (Geneva), and China in 1988, to Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Yugoslavia, and Poland in 1989, and Japan, Israel, India, Poland, and London in 1990 are in the series. Also part of the series are copies of speeches, Il Messagero articles, and other papers Fischer prepared that were sent to DEC managers who provided him input. Correspondence with other Bank officials and papers forwarded to him for comment from other Bank offices and some outside economists are part of the series. Routine correspondence concerning administrative and personnel matters are scattered throughout the series. Fischer's last official day as DECVP was August 31, 1990 but the series includes correspondence for September - December 1990 during which time Fischer made brief visits to the Bank from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) and served as a consultant to the joint Bank/IMF study of the Soviet economy.
