This series consists of six parts and contains records related to Masood Ahmed's collaboration, communications, reporting, and presentations to the Office of the President (EXC) and the Board of Executive Directors. The first part of the series includes chronological files related to the EXC kept by Ahmed from January 1994 to December 1996. Records consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence between Ahmed, IEC staff, DEC Vice President, and EXC; presentation slides, speech drafts, and reports intendedfor EXC; memoranda, meeting minutes, and monthly EXC reports; and scattered Executive Board reports.

The second part of the series contains files titled "Board General" from April 1994 to December 1997, and these consist of agendas and meetings minutes, memoranda, and correspondence as well as Executive Board reports and biographies of Executive Directors. IEC reported regularly to the Board and this series contains memoranda and correspondence related to this activity. In addition to those found in the "Board General" records, Executive Director biography files were kept by Ahmed that dated January 1994 to December 1997.

The third part of the series consists of records from the Induction Program for Executive Directors and Alternates, 20-21 November 1996, in which DEC officials gave a presentation to incoming Executive Directors on the roles, functions, and activities of DEC and its departmental units. The records include correspondence and memoranda between the DEC Vice President, IEC senior officials,and other Bank units discussing preparations and planning for the presentation. Copies of the presentation slides are also included.

The fourth part of the series concerns records related to the World Development Report (WDR), 1997. IEC was responsible for providing and drafting much of the analytical and statistical data in this report. Ahmed's WDR records include memoranda, and correspondence with attached draft WDRs that discuss revisions, edits, updates, and other issues related to the report. The correspondence and memoranda are between EXC, the DEC Vice President, IEC senior officials, and the Staff Director of the WDR. Other memoranda and correspondence discuss the presentation of the WDR to the EXC and the Board, and subsequent Executive Directors discussion of the report.

The fifth part of the series consists of readings compiled by Ahmed for World Bank President James Wolfensohn from January 1995 to December 1995. These include various articles, reports, and other publications. Most of the readings are publications external to the Bank, and discuss international finance, debt, and trade.

The sixth part of the series includes records related to Wolfensohn's Change Management Group, a Bank-wide initiative that organized 30 focus groups from selected individuals in offices and units across the Bank to assess management issues and draft strategies for potential re-organization of management in the Bank. The records are dated August 1995 to May 1996. The records consist of agenda and meeting minutes from meetings and retreats; correspondence with various individuals in different Bank units who participated in the multi-unit focus groups; and published articles related to business and management change.

This series was compiled successively by staff in units responsible for maintaining and reviewing adjustment operations: the Country Policy Department (Assistant Director Sidney Chernick and Vinod Dubey who served as Senior Adviser and later Director of CPD), the Economic Advisory Staff (Directors Vinod Dubey and Enzo Grilli), and the Development Policy Group (Enzo Grilli, Anandarup Ray, Satish Mannon). The records are divided roughly into three parts. The first part relates to the early development of the Structural Adjustment Loan (SAL) program, 1979 - 1984, and includes copies of SAL papers and reports presented to the Board and summaries of discussions from Executive Directors' meetings in which the reports and papers were discussed.

The second part is dated 1982 - 1994 and consists of the working files created in CPD, EAS, and DPG relating to adjustment lending. The files include status reports and progress reports on adjustment lending; correspondence relating to the development of guidelines for the processing of adjustment loans; evaluations of the adjustment lending program from the Operations Evaluation Department (OED); correspondence concerning implementation and assessment of adjustment lending; and comments on the various reports, papers, and evaluations of adjustment lending.

The files in part three contain publications relating to adjustment lending and adjustment lending studies and reports that were forwarded to the Executive Directors, 1980-1992. Included in the files are summaries of discussions from Executive Directors' meetings.

The first part of the series consists primarily of correspondence (1994 - 1996) of Director Masood Ahmed (IECDR) concerning Bank preparations for drafting an agreement between the World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO). It includes Ahmed's correspondence with Michael Bruno, Vice President and Chief Economist (DECVP), L. Alan Winters, Chief, International Trade Division (IECIT), and other Bank officials throughout the lengthy process of developing a document describing the parameters for a relationship between the Bank and WTO. Comments received from Bank offices on various versions of the document, including the version of the document circulated to the Board on 7 February 1995; a copy of the IMF paper on collaboration with the WTO presented to its Board on 15 February 1995; and the final version of the Agreement between the WTO and World Bank are part of the files. Correspondence concerning a Board Seminar on Bank relations with WTO held in 1995 includes Michael Bruno's 28 July 1995 report to Bank President Wolfensohn on the outcome of the seminar. The first part of the series also includes correspondence and briefing papers prepared for meetings of the Bank and IMF heads (Wolfensohn, Camdessus) with the newly appointed Director, WTO (Ruggiero) in 1995 and a Wolfensohn-Ruggiero meeting in 1996.

The second part of the series contains a copy of a 13 September 1993 letter from IECDR (D.C. Rao) to the Deputy Director General, General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, Jesus de Seade) informing him of the closure of the Bank's Geneva Office and the appointment of consultant John Croome to represent the Bank in GATT and Uruguay Round meetings. Copies of Croome's faxed reports to IECIT regarding meetings of the GATT Council, formal Council committees (Trade Policy Review, Trade Negotiations, Market Access, balance-of-Payments), and other formal and informal meetings he attended as the Bank's representative are in both parts of the series.

This series contains memoranda regarding their work programs and budgets from the IEC division directors to Director D.C.Rao; copies of memoranda that Rao sent the Chief Economist outlining the proposed IEC budgets and work programs; and copies of memoranda from the Chief Economist and his staff outlining the guidelines for the annual budgets.

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.

This series contains background materials, intra-Bank memoranda, and drafts of research papers primarily of staff from two Economic Analysis and Projections Department (EPD) units: the International Trade and Capital Flows Division (EPDIT) and the Global Analysis and Projections Division (EPDGL). The records are divided into two parts. The first and more voluminous part (2.33 linear feet) consists of EPD files dated 1977 to 1984 and containing rough working files for research papers. In addition to rough drafts of papers, these files contain intra-Bank memoranda containing comments on drafts or concerning EPD computer usage, analysis of data compiled by EPD staff, and other issues relating to research. The second part of the series contains drafts of research papers dated 1979 - 1990 and generated primarily by EPDIT and EPDGL staff, but there are also four papers written by staff from the International Economic Analysis and Prospects Division (IECAP) of the International Economics Department and threepapers authored by economists from: the School of International Service at American University; Seoul University; and Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. Some of the research papers in this series were issued as Division Working Papers which reported on research work in progress and were circulated only for Bank staff use to stimulate discussion and comment. Others were prepared for presentation at a conference or for publication by the World Bank or in a professional journal.

The series includes the 29 March 1989 report of an audit of the administrative expense budget of the Policy, Planning and Research Complex (PPR) by the Internal Auditing Department (IAD). The purpose of the review was to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of policies, procedures, and controls over formulation, implementation, and monitoring of the PPR budget and to provide recommendations for changes. Comments of the Senior Vice President, Policy, Planning and Research (SVPPR or PPRSV) comments on the draft report (16 May 1989) is with the IAD final report. DECVP reported to SVPPR.

Also in the series is a 9 September 1991 draft report of the results of an audit of the Geneva Office which reported directly to the Senior Vice President, Policy, Research and External Affairs (PRESV). Found with the draft report is a 3 May 1991 memo issued by PRESV to PRE organizations that transmitted the preliminary IAD work program which included the audit of the Geneva Office. The Geneva Office later reported to DECVP.

This series includes records related to Economic Advisory Staff (EAS)participation in Bank working groups and task forces. This includes records related to the Country Risk Management and Portfolio Review Working Group from 1989 to 1991. The Working Group was led by the Bank's Risk Management and Financial Policy Department (FRS), but the Working Group consisted of representatives from EAS, and many other units in the Bank. The records relate to review of country risk monitoring and financial risk assessment functions performed by FRS. The records include: correspondence and memoranda from EAS staff, FRS staff, Working Group representatives, and senior Bank officials; meeting minutes and agenda from the Working Group, the Operations Committee (OC)of the Operations Senior Vice Presidency (OPNSV), and the Finance Committee of the Finance Senior Vice Presidency (FINSV); and reports with comments produced in support of the Working Group, including copies of the Country Risk Management and Portfolio Review report.

The series also includes records from the Task Force on Exposure Guidelines from 1989 to 1990. The task force was led by EAS Director Enzo Grilli, and done in close collaboration with the Bank's regional units and FRS. The task force was formed to re-evaluate and review the Bank's exposure guidelines used to assess member countries and the Bank's exposure to major financial risks such as debt obligations. The records include: memoranda and correspondence; Task Force meeting minutes and agenda; recordsrelated to Country Robustness Analysis surveys performed as part of the Exposure Guidelines Task Force exercise; and draft and final Exposure Guidelines reports with comments.

The series includes records maintained by the Country Policy Department (CPD) and its subordinate divisions and units from 1981 to 1986. The records include correspondence and memoranda maintained by the CPD Directors, divisionalstaff, and unit staff. The records also include discussion papers, policy papers, and reports produced by the CPD divisions and units with comments for review.

Most of the research projects for which there are files in this series were started in the 1970s to early and mid-1980s The remainder of the series consists of files for other research projects started in the later 1980s, as well as a smaller number of files for projects started after that time that were maintained by the Research Administrator. The series is arranged in four parts. The first three parts cover overlapping time periods from 1969 to 1995. The fourth part of the series is a research project file for the City Project or City Study (1975 - 1985).

The majority of the projects in this series fall into the categories of development policy and planning, international finance and trade, agriculture and rural development, industry, transportation, water, telecommunications, energy, urbanization and regional development, and population and human resources. Some of the projects were conducted in collaboration with bilateral aid agencies, outside research institutions, and government agencies.

The earlier projects were funded wholly or in part from the External Research budget (ERB) and the later projects by the Research Support Budget (RSB). The Development Economics Department (ECD), Development Research Center (DRC) and the Economic Analysis and Projection Department (EPD) were responsible organizations for most of the earlier projects with Sector and Regional organizations bearing responsibility for the remainder. Research project proposals for the later period were forwarded by the Development Research Department (later the Country Economics Department) or another department, a Sector, or Regional unit, or, in the case of jointly sponsored projects, by a department or Sector and a Regional unit.

A typical research file contains: the formal research proposal submitted on a standardized form and sometimes accompanied by a narrative description of the proposed research and methodology; a memorandum establishing the membership of the review panel; comments on the proposal from Regional or sector units; the report of the review panel; replies from the reviewers or from the review panel; minutes of the Research Committee meeting at which the project proposal was reviewed;a memorandum containing the Research Committee's decision for funding and the identification code (RPO number) assigned to the project; quarterly status reports submitted on forms or narrative progress reports; and an abstract of the project that was published in the World Bank Group Research Program that was first issued in August 1972.The abstract described specific objectives of the study and the research method, the organization of the project, the date when final output was expected, and the Bank staff involved in the project. Also part of the project file were Terms of Reference and Back-to-Office reports for missions connected with the project; correspondence between the project supervisors and the Research Administrator that may include requests for additional funding (which were sometimes accompanied by an additional project proposal) or for an extension of the completion date; budget tracking reports; a project completion report on a standard form; and project evaluation reports from internal and external reviewers that accompanied the final project evaluation, or a project evaluation report from an internal panel. Files for some of the earlier projects also include correspondence with evaluators of the project, comments from the evaluators, and the project manager's response to the evaluations. Occasionally, completion reports and evaluation reports for more than one project were combined and some files are without completion reports. Internal and external evaluation reports as well as REPAC evaluation panel reports are in some files. After 31 July, 1984, only projects receiving over $100,000 in RSB funds were required to be evaluated.

Some project files for the mid to late 1980s contain proposals in the form of memoranda or papers for funding from RSB small grants (usually under $20,000) for development of formal project proposals; preparation of papers for colloquia; organization of workshops, seminars or expert meetings to assist in the formulation of a formal research proposal; or for dissemination of papers or other output from previously conducted research projects. The proposals for funding from the small grants program were usually reviewed and approved by the Research Adviser (later Research Administrator). The other research files for this period for projects requiring larger amounts of funding from the RSB vary in content. All of these files contain a completed Request for Research Support Budget (RSB) funding which is often accompanied by a memorandum describing in some detail the proposed research and/or methodology. Sometimes revisions were made to the original proposal and additional request forms were completed. All of the files contain an identification or RPO number.

Among the more widely known of the early files in this series is a project file for what was in 1987 the longest running (18 years) research project in the Bank's history-Road Construction, Maintenance and Vehicle Operating Cost (also known as the Highway Design Study') (670-27). The International Comparison Project (670-68) was begun by the United Nations in 1968, was later funded as an external research project by the Bank, and was closed in December 1984. The Strategic Planning to Accommodate Rapid Growth in LDC Cities (The City Project or City Study) (671-47) project file covers the 10-year period from 1975 to 1985. In addition to the project completion report and evaluation, the file includes a November 1982 narrative report entitled The City Study: A Summary of Results and Policy Implications prepared by Gregory Ingram, Alvaro Pachon, and Jose Fernando Pineda. Another project file for the same project (RPO 671-47) contains manuscripts of some of the project papers and intermediate papers produced. According to the Project Completion Report filed by project manager Gregory Ingram, the intermediate papers were a means of compiling intermediate, mainly descriptive, results and usually resulted from the city study workshops. The project papers were usually more analytical and intended as finished results. These were intended for wide distribution and have mostly been published as World Bank Staff Working Papers or papers elsewhere in journals and books. Paper abstracts are in this series along with the manuscript of the monograph Understanding the Developing Metropolis: Lessons from the City Study of Bogota and Cali, Colombia by Rakesh Mohan, which was published in 1994 and summarized the main findings of the City Study.

Also found with the earlier files in this series is correspondence of Ernest Stern, Senior Adviser, Development Policy with the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the International Development Research Center (IDRC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), and other government offices following the social science research on development conference in Bellagio, Italy, 13-15 February 1974 (RPO 670-92). The correspondence primarily concerns the continuation of international collaboration for development research and planning by holding meetings (referred to as Bellagio Plus meetings) during 1974 and 1975 in the areas of employment, income distribution, rural development, population, and education. Correspondence concerning planning and outcomes of these meetings is in the files along with correspondence of Benjamin King, Research Administrator, and Orville Grimes, Secretary to the Research Committee, with IDRC concerning Bank participation in the Social Science Research (SSR) information system and with Bank officials concerning the issue of Bank participation in DEVSIS, an international information system in the field of economics and social development sponsored by IDRC, ILO, OECD, UNDP, and UNESCO.

The earlier files also include documents brought together for the World Bank's Comparative Study of Poverty (673-73), an overall study and evaluation of poverty, equity and growth in 21 developing countries during the period 1950-1985. Included are unpublished papers concerning Ghana's agricultural commodity prices, political economy, and production costs for food crops; studies of poverty, equity, and growth issues; various development plans and reports, including World Bank reports; study outlines; notes and correspondence concerning project work; and newspaper articles pertaining to Ghana. With these documents is a heavily annotated typewritten timeline of economic and political events in Ghana from 1874 to 1983 that was used in the study, a sample questionnaire, computer printouts, and related correspondence. Research papers on the Political Economy of Poverty, Equity and Growth in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Malawi, Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia developed for the study and several comparative research papers; printouts of computer data; and a draft introduction prepared for a multi-volume publication of the research papers developed for the study are part of the files.

For the later period the series includes project files for several multi-country Comparative Studies. The Timing and Sequencing of A Trade Liberalization Policy was the first of these studies that was initiated under a Research Policy Council program in 1985. An evaluation of the Comparative Studies was summarized in the FY 93 Report on the World Bank Research Program. A small number of project files for the later period were created for administrative purposes and assigned RPO numbers.

Files are included in the series for projects that extended beyond their authorized duration and never went beyond initial planning stages and projects that were cancelled because no contract was signed or funds expended to carry out the project. The titles of some projects were changed after approval of the research proposal and a few projects were shut down and never completed because of lack of department or division sponsorship or because no work was undertaken after the project proposal was approved.