Showing 1-50 of 4676 results

Records of the Office of the Chief Economist

492 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

Records of the Office of the Chief Economist

  • WB IBRD/IDA DEC
  • Fonds
  • 1946 - 2003 (predominant 1972 - 1993)

Records created by the Office of the Vice President (later Senior Vice President), Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) comprise the bulk of the records in Fonds 14. Prior to the creation of DECVP in 1987, responsibility for directing economic research to provide insights into the development process rested with the persons serving as the Economic Adviser to the President in the 1960s and early 1970s, and later with the offices of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD) and the Vice President, Economics and Research Staff (VPERS) whose records are part of this fonds. Files for both approved and rejected research projects in planning and development policy, population and human resources, industry and trade, and sector studies that were maintained in the offices of VPD, VPERS, and DECVP are included in this fonds.

This fonds also contains a small volume of records of the Bank's Economic Development Institute and records of the Bank's representatives to international organizations concerned with the development process: the Berne Union, the Paris Club, and U.N. organizations at Geneva, Switzerland. Also included are records of economist Bela Belassa who served from September 1966 to May 1991 as consultant to the Economic Advisers to the President, VPD, VPERS, and DECVP.

The following officials served during the period 1964 to 2003 in predecessor organizations or positions whose functions became part of DECVP in the 1987 Bank reorganization and as DECVP following that reorganization:

Economic Advisers

  • Irving Friedman: 1964 - 1970

  • Hollis B. Chenery: 1970 - 1972

Vice President, Development Policy (VPD)

  • Hollis B. Chenery: November 1972 - February 1982

Vice President, Economics and Research Staff (VPERS)

  • Hollis B. Chenery: February 1982 - August 1982

  • Anne Krueger: August 1982 - December 1986

  • Benjamin B. King (Acting): January 1987 - May 1987

Vice President and Chief Economist (DECVP)

  • Stanley Fischer: 1988 - 1990

  • Lawrence Summers: 1991 - 1993

  • Michael Bruno: 1993- 1996

  • Joseph E. Stiglitz: 1997 - 2000

  • Sir Nicholas H. Stern: 2000 - 2003.

Office of the Chief Economist

Records of the Economics and Research Staff (ERS)

Sub-fonds consists of the records of Economics and Research Staff (ERS) department and division records, including the Economic Analysis and Projects Department (EPD). Records of the Research Policy Council (RPC), the Bank Research Advisory Group (BRAG), and the Research Projects Approval Committee (REPAC) are also included. Records related to the research, publication, and dissemination of research papers and other products are included as are articles, lectures and speeches authored by Vice President of ERS Anne Krueger.

Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP)

Sub-fonds consists of the records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics (DECVP) and Chief Economist and the Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist. These records take the form of Vice President's chronological and subject files as well as briefing books and travel documents. Records of DEC's Front Office staff included in this sub-fonds include reading files, work program and budget records, and reports of periodic review. Records of numerous DEC units are also included in this sub-fonds. They include: the Policy and Review Department (PRD); Development Policy Group (DPG, and its predecessor units: the Economic Advisory Staff [EAS] and the Country Policy Department [CPD]); the International Economics Department (IEC); the Country Economics Department (CEC); the Development Research Group (DECRG); the Policy Review Department (PRD); the Research Advisory Staff (RAD); and the Economic Developing Institute (EDI). The records of noted economist Bela Balassa who served as a consultant with DEC and predecessor organizations from 1966 to 1991 are also included.

Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD) and the Development Policy Staff

Sub-fonds consists of records created in the Development Policy Vice Presidency (VPD). Many of the records were created by the Director, Development Policy; these relate to the Development Committee; the Policy Review Committee, and commodity policy work in the department. Other records in this sub-fonds relate to specific research projects and, generally, the World Bank's research program. Also included are records related to the external General Research Advisory Panel (GRAP). Correspondence and other records of the Development Policy Staff, Departments, and Divisions are also included in this sub-fonds.

Project Managers' Research Project Files

This series contains files for the earliest projects approved under the World Bank's research program. These particular files are primarily those that were maintained by the managers responsible for directing the projects. Most were directed by staff from departments under the Development Policy Staff (the Development Research Center, the Development Economics Department, the Economic Analysis and Projections Department) and under the Economics and Research Staff (the Economics and Analysis and Projection Department and the Development Research Department), but others were conducted by staff from the sectors or the Regions. The files are in two sections: those that were completed and for which completion reports and evaluations had been filed and those for which the final reports and evaluations had not been filed.

A project file typically contains draft research proposals with comments on the drafts, the formal research proposal submitted on a standardized form, memoranda establishing a review panel to vet the proposal and to convey the decision of the review panel, minutes of the Research Committee meeting at which the proposal was discussed, the Research Committee's decision on the proposal, correspondence with consultants who worked on the project, Back-to-Office reports from missions connected with the project, requests for computer support, requests for additional funding and/or an extension of the research schedule and the Research Committee's decisions regarding those requests, intra-office correspondence of the unit directing the project, a summary of the project results for inclusion in Research News, and possibly a project completion report on a standard form. For most projects, there is a separate folder containing quarterly status reports and possibly also the project completion report. The files in the completed projects section of the series also include evaluation reports. Most of the files for projects under the 672 and 673 series contain only completion reports.

Project files Numbered 671-93 to 671-98 were used for documentation relating to the General Research Advisory Panel (GRAP) and five of the Special Research Advisory Panels. For the official GRAP files, see (add link to series 4031).

Business Plans for Fiscal Years 1991-1995 Maintained in the Policy and Review Department

These Business plans for all of the organizations comprising the Policy Research and External Affairs Complex (PRE) and the predecessor Policy, Planning and Research Complex (PPR) were maintained by Gregory Ingram, Principal Adviser, Review and Analysis Division (PRDRA), Policy and Review Department (PRD) and Ziaddin Choudhury and Zmarak Shalizi in the Program Management Unit (PRDPM) in PRD. The Business plan was a major component of Bank budget cycles and provided information from PRE that would become part of priorities and framework papers presented to the Board. The Business plan also served as the basis for PRE's next fiscal year work program and budget, described each PRE organization's plans for the following two or more fiscal years, described each organization's underlying strategy and work program, and indicated plans for special emphases and topics that cut across department and other organizational boundaries. Included in the files are draft and final Business plans, submissions from each PRE (or PPR) organization, including DEC, and background correspondence and data relating to the preparation of the plans.

Files of the Director, Development Policy, Regarding the Development Committee and Related Committees

These records were compiled by the Director of Development Policy in the Office of the Vice President of Development Policy. That position was held by Ernest Stern from April 1974 to September 1975, Attila Karaosmanoglu from October 1975 to June 1979, and E. Bevan Waide from June 1979 to 1982.

The Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries, better known as the Development Committee, was established in 1974 to advise the Boards on development issues and to coordinate international efforts to finance development. The Interim Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary System, known since 1999 as the International Monetary and Finance Committee, was established by the International Monetary Fund in 1974 to advise the Board on the management of the international monetary system. The Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs, now officially the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters. The chairman of the Group of Twenty-Four customarily addresses Development Committee meetings, and the Development Committee, the Interim Committee, and the Group of 24 normally meet at the same times during the year.

The series consists of four groups of records:

    1. A general chronological file, 1977 - 1982, contains: a) correspondence between the Director, Development Policy and the Executive Secretary of the Development Committee, the Bank's liaison (Ernest Stern, Vice President of Operations) with the Development Committee, and other Bank managers, including President McNamara; b) copies of draft and final versions of Development Committee documents (agenda, press communiqu?s, reviews of Development Committeeperformance, annual reports, and work programs) forwarded to the Director of Development Policy or to the Executive Directors of IBRD.
    1. Chronological files on meetings of the Development Committee, 1977 - 1980, contain agenda of meetings, copies of Development Committee documents to be discussed at the meetings, copies of President McNamara's statements delivered at Development Committee meetings, and memoranda from the Director, Development Policy or the Bank's liaison with the Development Committeesummarizing meetings. These files include some agenda for and documents considered at meetings of the Working Group on Development Finance and Policy, the Working Group on Access to Capital Markets, the Group of Twenty-four, and the Senior Officials of the Development Committee.
    1. Files on committees and working groups generally contain agendas with copies of the documents to be discussed at the meeting attached, intra-Bank memoranda regarding the committee or working group, and reports and papers prepared by the committee, working group, or task force. Included are records for the Capital Markets Coordinating Committee, 1972 - 1977; the Working Group on Capital Market Access, 1975 - 1978; the Working Group on Development Finance and Policy, 1978; the Senior Officials' Meeting, September 1978; the Task Force on Private Foreign Investment, 1979 - 1981; the Task Force on Non-Concessional Flows, 1980-1981; the Group of Twenty-Four, 1978-1981; and the Interim Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary System , 1978, 1980 - 1981.
    1. Files related to Development Committee studies and reports include: correspondence, papers, and a report regarding cofinancing, 1978 -1980; a Bank study of aid groups sponsored by IBRD, 1978; a report on the implementations of the Special Action Program, 1978; the Joint Fund/Bank staff study on The Stabilization of Export Earnings, done at the invitation of the Development Committee and submitted to the Committee in 1978; and reviews of Development Committee performance, 1976 and1978.

Correspondence and Other Records of the Development Policy Staff, Departments, and Divisions

This series contains the records of the Vice President for Development Policy's (VPD's) staff, departments, and divisions for the period 1978 - 1982. There are a few files that cover the Development Policy Staff (DPS) in general, and these files include a small amount of correspondence with the VPD, his senior adviser, and the Director, Development Policy, but this series primarily contains the correspondence, studies, reports, and publications of four of the DPS departments and of some of the divisions within those departments. Included are files for the Policy Planning and Program Review Department (PPR), the Economic Analysis and Projections Department (EPD), the Development Economics Department (DED), and the Development Research Center (DRC). The EPD correspondence for the years 1978 - 1980 also includes information regarding the Berne Union: Back-to-the-Office Reports from missions to Berne Union meetings; summaries of discussions at Berne Union meetings, and analyses of Berne Union data. The division-level files include correspondence, publications and reports generated by the division.

In addition to the department and division files, there are records relating to the Bank's World Development Report (WDR), 1978 - 1980. These files include correspondence containing input for the report, comments on drafts of the report, and plans for the content of the next report. Copies of background papers for the report and copies of the 1978 - 1980 editions are also included.

The Development Policy Staff ended in 1982, but this series includes DPS publications issued with a 1983 publication date.

Records Relating to the Committee of Twenty and to Two of Its Technical Groups

The Committee of Twenty (C-XX), formally known as the Committee of the Board of Governors on Reform of the International Monetary System and Related Issues, was established by the IMF in 1972 to prepare a draft for a reformed international monetary system after the United States had announced in August 1971 that it was suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold. The records in this series were compiled by Frank Vibert while he was working in the Policy Planning and Program Review Department (PPR) in the Office of the Vice President for Development Policy (VPD). The records primarily concern two of the Committee's Technical Groups: the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources and the Technical Group on the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) Link and Related Proposals. The Bank was asked to participate in the secretariat function for the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources, and Frank Vibert with Azizali Mohammed from the IMF formed the secretariat for the Group. Earnest Stern, Senior Adviser in VPD, was part of the Technical Group on the SDR Link.

The series contains copies of IMF and World Bank studies and other documents that were used as background materials for the Committee or that were drafted in response to specific requests from Committee staff; drafts of and comments from IMF and Bank staff on the Bank paper, Capital Flows to Developing Countries, that was prepared for the Committee; and the issues of the IMF newsletter, IMF Survey, that included articles regarding the Committee of Twenty. The files include: copies of President McNamara's correspondence with Ernest Stern and with C. Jeremy Morse, the chair of the Deputies of the Committee of Twenty; memoranda exchanged between Vibert and Stern; intra-VPD correspondence and other intra-Bank correspondence relating to the Committee of Twenty and the Technical Groups; Vibert's correspondence with IMF staff and with the chair of the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources; copies of memoranda Vibert drafted for the chair's signature; and Vibert's copies of Stern's memoranda to the files regarding the SDR Link.

Records maintained for meetings of the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources include: Vibert's correspondence relating to pre-meeting planning, copies of documents provided as background for the meeting discussions, lists of attendees, copies of the Terms of Reference for the Group, and Vibert's handwritten notes form the meetings. The files also contain multiple drafts and comments on the drafts of the Group's report.

Records relating to the Technical Group on the SDR Link include copies of World Bank and IMF documents provided the Group as background materials; copies of statements regarding the SDR Link made by heads of delegations to the Group; notes regarding SDR discussions with the United Kingdom and Germany; and various drafts of the Bank paper Bank Group Uses of SDR Link Resources.

Secretariat's Copies of Policy Papers and Minutes of Policy Review Committee Meetings and of Staff Review Meetings

The Policy Planning and Program Review Department staff (Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski, Frank Vibert, and Shahid J. Burki) served as the secretariat for the Policy Review Committee (PRC). This series contains the secretariat's set of policy papers and the notices of meetings and minutes of staff review meetings and of Policy Review Committee meetings at which the policy papers were discussed. The policy papers, which were drafted by various units throughout the Bank, were distributed for review at the PRC stafflevel or by the Policy Review Committee as a whole or were widely distributed throughout the Bank for comment or for information purposes prior to consideration by the Executive Directors. The files contain the various versions of a paper as it proceeded through the review process. The policy papers cover a broad range of subjects: sector issues, project costs overruns, the lending policies and practices of IDA, the World Bank's approach to interest rates and credit allocation issues, and the establishmentof the Third Window.

Subject File of Dennis N. de Tray, Head of the Living Standards Measurement Unit (DRDLS), Development Research Department

These very loosely organized files appear to have been assembled, mostly in black binders, by de Tray for his personal use. Files (binders) were created for a 1985 mission to Jamaica he participated in to evaluate the effects of structural adjustment activities on major sectors of the Jamaican economy and a 1986 mission to Grenada he also participated in to meet with government officials in the national statistical office to discuss government survey needs and the possibility of monitoring a Living Standards Study. These files include copies of Back-to-Office Reports (BTOs) and other correspondence relating to the mission.

De Tray's Ivory Coast Living Standards Survey (ICLSS) materials, which consist mostly of technical data from the survey (1985-1987), include a Terms of Reference (TOR) and BTO for a 1983 project identification/preparation mission to Abidjan, Paris, and London for the ICLSS. A small number of reports, sampling plans, and prototype questions for the ICLSS are included for the 1983 - 1984 period. Correspondence concerning the French version of the ICLSS questionnaire, recommendations for questionnaire changes, and a report of a mission by a DRDLS staff member to Cote d'Ivoire to collect data from the ICLSS are included for the 1986-1987 period. De Tray also created a file for a 1985-1986 Bank study (RPO 673-84) (folder 1315128) of the determinants of children's nutritional status and morbidity in the Cote d'Ivoire for which he was principal supervisor.

De Tray's Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) materials include his BTO from a February - March 1986 Technical Assistance mission to Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire to explore the possibility of undertaking a GLSS and to discuss a proposed seminar covering results from the 1985 ICLSS and an earlier 1979 consumption survey. Also included are other 1986-1987 BTO reports from missions relating to the GLSS including a September 17, 1986 report of a mission to Ghana de Tray participated in to finalize plans for the GLSS. Also included is correspondence with and mission reports from a consultant working on the GLSS.

A smaller amount of material is included for the Peruvian Living Standards Survey. BTO reports (1984) from missions to Peru to prepare for the survey and a proposal for a study of Education and Informal Sector Employment (1983) are among the documents assembled. The series also includes an undated draft proposal for an Egyptian Living Standards Survey, a December 5, 1983 BTO from a mission to that country to discuss the conduct of a Living Standards Survey, and some related material. De Tray also assembled some publications and other materials that appear to have related to his membership on the Task Force on the Annual Report on Bank Research. Found with this material is a copy of a paper he prepared in October 1984 entitled The Living Standards Measurement Survey which describes in detail the origin of LSMS at the Bank, the development of the survey design, planned analyses of data collected, and the survey plan for the Ivory Coast where the first LSMS was to take place.

Results 1 to 50 of 4676