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Records of the Office of the Chief Economist Series

Subject Files of Masood Ahmed, Director, International Economics Department (IEC), Relating to EDI and the 50th Anniversary of the World Bank

This series contains files that IEC Director Masood Ahmed compiled on the Economic Development Institute (EDI) and the 50th Anniversary of the World Bank. Ahmed agreed in November 1993 to be a member of an informal network to review and comment on some of the internal Bank work regarding plans for the 50th Anniversary. The network was directed by Sarwar Lateef, who was also head of the secretariat to coordinate the Bank-wide 50th anniversary program. The 50th Anniversary files include correspondence withSarwar Lateef, staff in DECVP, and other members of the informal network; agenda for network meetings; comments on drafts of The World Bank at the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century: Learning from the Past/Embracing the Future; and copies of various background articles and papers prepared for the Committee on the Future of the Bretton Woods Institutions and for the 50th Anniversary of the World Bank. In October 1994 Ahmed was tapped to be a member of the Advisory Committee to EDI. The records relatingto EDI in this series include Ahmed's correspondence with the Director of EDI and other members of the Advisory Committee regarding the relaunching of EDI, copies of minutes of meetings of the Advisory Committee, and copies of various issuances regarding EDI from its establishment in 1955.

Subject Files of the Director, International Economic Department (IECDR)

This series contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, reports, draft articles and papers, and other records maintained by the Directors of the International Economics Department. Most of the correspondence is with staff in the IEC divisions and with the Vice President and Chief Economist (DECVP). The files concern: external access to the IEC's Bank Economic and Social Database System (BESD); data management issues in IEC; the distribution and marketing plans for IEC products (filed under Dissemination Task Force Electronic Data including CD-Rom Project and External Dissemination of IEC Products); the Socio-Economic Data Division's (IECSE's) participation in the International Comparison Project (ICP); intra-IEC discussions on the rebasing of national accounts and on statistical capability building; the methodology for preparing trade data tables; and the 1990 and 1991 work program and budget of the Debt and International Finance Division (IECDI).

Specific documents include: IEC correspondence on drafting its September 1991 report on The Management of Commodity Price Risk and the Bank's Role; copies of computer-generated slides from the January 27, 1992 IEC Seminar on Information Management Opportunities; copies of background papers and IEC staff comments on papers prepared for Long-Term Prospects Paper, 1990; status reports and correspondence regarding the development of the Revised Minimum Standard Model - Extended (RMSM - X) in IECSE; a February 1993 draft research agenda for IECSE (filed under Unified Survey'); and IEC correspondence and comments on the World Development Indicators (WDI) production process.

Subject Files of the Director, Policy and Review Department (PRDDR)

This series contains both the incoming and outgoing correspondence of the Director, Policy and Review Department (PRDDR) and his immediate staff. Much of the incoming correspondence is heavily hand annotated by Director Paul Isenman with his reply and/or his comments regarding the disposition of the incoming document. The files also contain agenda and minutes of meetings; drafts of reports, papers, and publications; and Isenman's handwritten notes from meetings. The series consists of the following four parts:

  1. The first and largest (8.83 linear feet) segment is the main subject file, January 1990 - November 1991. It consists largely of files on draft policy papers that the PRD staff reviewed. These files contain Isenman's copies of the correspondence, comments, and minutes of meetings relating to the policy paper throughout the drafting process. Policy subjects covered include: forestry, governance, guarantees (i.e. expanding Bank guarantee instruments for private sector development), human development, military expenditure, poverty, the Soviet economy, technical assistance for the Soviet Union, and policy guidelines on tobacco. Also included are files regarding the review of the Report of the Technical Assistance Review Task Force (TARTF); files documenting the development of Business plans for units in PRE [Policy, Research and External Affairs]; and memoranda and other correspondence, dated January - October 1990, on the transition to establish PRD from the Strategic Planning and Review Department (filed under New Department). Filed under President's Council are agenda and minutes of meetings of the President's Council (PC) along with PRD staff comments on documents that were to be discussed at the meetings.
  • The second segment, Isenman's working file, 1989 - 1991, contains many documents that Isenman annotated as working file or file W. Most of the files relate to subjects that were of short-term interest to PRD, but filed under Policy Research and External Affairs (PRE) Committee are schedules for PRE meetings and minutes and agenda for meetings of the PRE Committee on which Isenman served. Some items filed under lunches and people are dated as early as 1989 when Isenman was director of the Africa-South Central and Indian Ocean Department (AF3).

  • The third segment, January 1990 - August 1991, contains PRD's correspondence with and notes from meetings with PRE managers and the staff in PRD's Program Management Unit (PRDPM) concerning the drafting and monitoring of budgets and work programs for all PRE units. Also included are files on the FY 91 retrospective reviews for PRE units and the FY 92 PRE management contract.

  • The final segment appears to be another working file pulled together as PRD was being abolished. It contains a number of files pulled from the first segment, but the bulk of it consists of thick accordion files in which Isenman filed background materials on topics of current interest or in preparation for attendance at a meeting on the topic. Many include Isenman's handwrittennotes from meetings.

Subject Files of the Office of the Special Representative to the U.N. Organizations in Geneva

Most of these files appear to have been created while Wolfgang Siebeck (1986-1989) and Jean Baneth (1989-1992) served as Special Representative. A few files contain documents of earlier Representatives who served during the 1980s (Mahmud Burney and L. Peter Chatenay) and of Jean Baneth's successor in 1992, Sorsa Piritta. Documents placed in these files include not only memoranda, electronic messages, speeches, and statements prepared or received by the Representatives but also memoranda and other documents prepared by members of their staffs and other Bank officials.

A few files (Women, North/South Roundtable on Trade) contain only a single document but others are more substantive. The International Labor Organization (ILO) files (1982 - 1990) contain considerable correspondence of both Siebeck and Baneth covering coordination between the World Bank and ILO. In some of the correspondence, Siebeck is identified as Director, International Relations Department, Geneva Office (IRDGO). Much of the correspondence in the Human Rights file pertains to Baneth's participation as Bank representative at meetings of the U.N. Centre for Human Rights and preparations for the 1993 U.N. Conference on Human Rights. The file also contains some correspondence of earlier Representatives concerning human rights issues. The Gulf Crisis file (26 October 1990 - 16 July 1991) includes Baneth's (and his Administrative Assistant's) correspondence concerning United Nations Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO) efforts on behalf of displaced persons in the Middle East during the crisis. Correspondence was exchanged during the crisis with the Vice President, Corporate Planning and budget Robert Picciotto; the Senior Vice President, Policy Research and External Affairs Wilfred Thalwitz; and the Director, External Affairs Alexander Shakow.

Subject Files of the Research Advisers

This series contains the subject files of Research Advisers Ernest Stern (originally titled Senior Adviser) and, beginning in April 1974, Benjamin B. King. After King left the position in March 1977, Ian M.D. Little and Bela Belassa served as acting Research Adviser until the appointment of Shankar Acharya in July 1979. The files include the advisers' correspondence with President McNamara, the Vice President of Development Policy, the directors and staff of the Development Policy departments, members ofthe Research Committee, and non-Bank research professionals. This series also includes some correspondence of the Research Committee secretary. A file on the early administration of the World Bank's research program, 1971 - 1974, includes a history and description of the research program, outlines of research priorities, and memoranda on the policy of long-term consultant appointments funded from the External Research Budget.

Other files contain: tables and correspondence regarding the research budget and the funding of specific projects, July 1971-June 1973; correspondence on rejected proposals, October 1971 - May 1974, including comments on the project proposals and memoranda explaining why specific research proposals were rejected; agenda (May 1971 - June 1979) and minutes ( April 1971 - October 1974; January 1975 - March 1979) of Research Committee meetings; minutes of Review Panel meetings, 1972 - 1978; correspondence regarding the size and membership of the Research Committee, 1971 - 1979; correspondence regarding research proposals (instructions and deadlines for submitting proposals, memoranda conveying the decisions of the Research Committee, lists of proposals each department planned to submit in the coming fiscal year), 1972 - 1974; comments on drafts of the annual report to the Executive Directors on the research program and memoranda summarizing the response of the Directors to the report, 1973 - 1974; correspondence regarding the evaluation of urban development projects and the financing of these evaluations, 1972 - 1975; correspondence with non-Bank personnel, 1971 - 1974 (filed under Outside Correspondence); excerpts from Research Committee minutes and memoranda on funding the sector research program, 1973 - 1977; and information regarding the Development Policy staff's participation and attendance at the International Meetings of the Directors of Development Research and Training Institutes, OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, August 1972, and in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, August 1974.

Subject Files Relating to Major Issues of Interest to the Vice President and Chief Economist (DECVP)

This series contains files on major issues of interest to the Vice President and Chief Economist and his staff. Most files contain documents compiled by DECVP Michael Bruno and by Mark Baird, Director of Development Policy in DEC, but some are from the administrations of former DECVPs Stanley Fischer and Lawrence Summers. Among the topics covered are: aid effectiveness; plans to relaunch and reform the Economic Development Institute in 1995; planning for the 50th Anniversary of the World Bank; and DEC presentations made to the Board and to President Wolfensohn.

Specific documents include: comments on drafts of a paper on aid effectiveness, prepared by the staff of the World Bank, in collaboration with the staff of the International Monetary Fund, for the 49th meeting of the Development Committee on October 3, 1994; memoranda on research proposals on aid effectiveness; a copy of Mark Baird's presentation to the IDA Deputies at a February 1995 meeting in Paris to discuss the Eleventh Replenishment of IDA; a DEC paper, dated April 1, 1994, on the contribution of research and training (EDI) to the work of the World Bank (filed under 50th Anniversary); summaries of brainstorming sessions, held in 1994 in conjunction with plans for the 50th Anniversary, on future issues facing the Bank; a copy of the DEC information package provided the Executive Directors when DEC made a presentation to the Directors on December 2, 1994 as part of the Executive Directors' Information Program; background notes used to prepare for a strategy meeting with President Wolfensohn on November 22, 1995 (filed under DEC strategy note); DEC memoranda and a February 1995 DEC report regarding the DEC review process of loans and country strategies (filed under lending); an October 1994 DEC Proposal to Restructure Funding of Non-Lending Services (filed under Non-lending Services); comments from Mark Baird and other DEC staff on items discussed at Loan Committee meetings; Michael Bruno's correspondence with the Deputy Director-General and the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO); briefing materials prepared for President Wolfensohn's July 6, 1995 meeting with the head of the WTO and the IMF; summaries of meetings the Chief Economist and DEC staff had with WTO staff; and comments on drafts of the guidelines for World Bank staff cooperation with the WTO.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Files of the Special Representative to the U.N. Organizations in Geneva Relating to Least Development Countries (LDCs)

Included in the series is the 1982 correspondence between L. Peter Chatenay while assigned to the International Relations Department (IRD) and Representative Mahmud Burney regarding Bank/UNDP/UNCTAD cooperation on Least Developed Countries (LDC) issues and meetings attended on LDC issues. Correspondence between the two concerning LDCs continued after Chatenay succeeded Burney as Representative and Burney was designated Senior Adviser, U.N. Affairs, IRD. Also in the series is Chatenay's correspondence with other IRD officials and Representatives Siebeck and Baneth's correspondence with Bank Headquarters and U.N. officials on various LDC issues and the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries held in Paris on 3 March 3 1990 - 14 March 1990. Copies of statements made by Bank officials at the Conference are part of the series.

Work Program and Budget Records for Fiscal Years, 1988-1992 Maintained in the Policy and Review Department

The earliest work program and budget records in this series are the FY 1988 mid-year review records for the Policy, Planning and Research Staff (PPR). PPR, created after the May 1987 Bank reorganization, brought together existing departments from different parts of the Bank (principally the Economics and Research Staff [ERS] and the Operations Staff [OPS]). budget files maintained by Richard Woodford, Program Coordinator, Office of the Senior Vice President, Policy, Planning and Research (SVPPR) and Ziaddin Choudhury, SVPPR contain copies of PPR organizations' FY 1988 mid-year review reports; the FY 1988 PPR mid-year review report submitted by SVPPR to the Planning and budget Department (PBD) of PPR; and PBD's memo of June 29, 1988 to President Conable giving preliminary findings of PBD's review of the Bank's planning and budgeting system. PBD had responsibility for budget analysis and monitoring of work program and budget performance for the entire Bank. DECVP reported to SVPPR.

Budget files maintained by Gregory Ingram, who joined the SVPPR staff as Principal Adviser, Policy and Research, along with the Woodford and Choudhury files contain: budget and work program guidelines, submissions, reports, and memos (FYs 1989-1992); FY 1989 and FY 1990 capital budget guidelines and requests from PPR organizations for office technology and other equipment; mid-year review submissions from PPR organizations for FYs 1989 and 1990 and retrospective review submissions and drafts for FY 1989; PBD's draft mid-year review report of the FY 1989 budget forwarded to the President's Council for review; documents assembled for the PPR FY 1989 work program review meetings with PBD; and the FY 1990 PPR budget plan (management contract) developed after the Bank's FY 1990 budget was approved by the Board.

After PPR became Policy, Research and External Affairs (PRE) in 1990 and the Policy and Review Department (PRD) was created in PRE, Ingram (PRDRA) and Woodford (PRDPM) had continued responsibilities for budget (management contract) and work program coordination for PRE. Their files and those of Zmarak Shalizi (PRDPM) and Ziaddin Choudhury (PRDPM) contain copies of PRE organizations' submissions for the FY 1991 work program and budget; FY 1991 mid-year review submissions from PRE organizations; and the PRE FY 1991 mid-year review report. There is a small amount of information concerning funding of special grant programs after FY 1991. DECVP reported to PRESV.

Working File for the Trade Policy Development Project Maintained in the Development Research Group

In November 1999, the World Bank established a new program of international standards, technical regulations, and trade policy with the support of the United Kingdom's Department of International Development's (DFID) Trust Fund. The DFID umbrella Trust Fund project had eight sub-components or projects: WTO 2000 and WBI Core Course developed by the World Bank Institute; WTO Agriculture; Services Trade; Trade Support; International Standards Support; Trade Policy Data System; and Impact Modeling. This file appears to have been initially maintained by Anthony Venables (Manager for Trade, Development Research Group [DECRG]) who was designated Task Manager to administer this three-year Trust Fund project.

Found in the series are copies of electronic messages (e-mails) exchanged in 1998 between L. Alan Winters, then Trade Manager, DECRG with David Batt, Head of DFID about a DFID-World Bank collaboration on trade policy in advance of the next round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in order to increase understanding of the policy implications and economic impact of standards and regulations on world trade development. A copy of Winter's 21 December 1998 letter to Botts expressing the Bank's interest in a Trade Policy Development Project is in the file. Also in the file are copies of e-mails and notes concerning the preparation process for a Bank Initiating brief for a Trust Fund for the Trade Policy Development Project and a copy of the Initiating brief executed on 29 March 1999 that describes the objectives of the Trust Fund.

In the series are descriptions of each sub-component project approved by DFID for financing, program updates/progress reports, and other project related correspondence including Venable's correspondence with personnel designated as Bank contact points for the sub-projects and with DFID and a copy of a later 2001 facsimile message requesting payment from DFID for expenditures for the period 1 October 2000 to 30 September 2001.

World Debt Tables and World Economic Indicators

The earliest World Debt Tables in the series were prepared by the Comparative Data Division, Economics (later Economic Program) Department. The tables were developed from data received from deBTOr countries supplemented by data from other sources. These tables were periodically updated and supplemented; data used in some updates are part of the series. The Economic and Social Data Division, Economic Analysis and Projections Department of the Development Policy Staff succeeded the Comparative Data Divisionin issuing World Debt Tables.

Included in this series is the first World Economic Indicators report that was transmitted with a November 2, 1973 explanatory memo from Bank President Robert McNamara. The purpose of the report was to assemble data for use by Bank senior staff and the Board relating to major trends in the world economy and to describe major features of the economic situation in developing countries.

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