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.

This series, which contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Masood Ahmed, consists of five parts.

The first set of files (7 linear feet) is correspondence for the periods December 1, 1993 - February 28, 1995 and March 16 - December 31, 1995 containing both incoming and outgoing correspondence for the periods December 1, 1993 - October 31, 1994 and August 1995. The files for November 1994 -July 1995; and September - December 1995 primarily contain only copies of outgoing correspondence. In most cases, the enclosures to outgoing mail are included.

The second part of the series (3 linear feet) is the general correspondence for August 8, 1994 and September 19, 1994 - December 30, 1995. A number of the items in these files are duplicated in the first set of correspondence described above. The correspondence is primarily with World Bank staff, and most consists of a copy of the incoming letter with Ahmed's handwritten reply. Almost all are electrostatic copies rather than the originals. The typedoutgoing copy of Ahmed's reply is not always attached but generally can be found in the first set of files.

The general external correspondence forms the third part of the series (1 linear foot) with records dating from September 1994 to December 1995 with two documents dated June 7, 1994 and August 30, 1994. These files contain Ahmed's correspondence with individuals or organizations external to the Bank or his correspondence with IEC staff that concerned issues external to the Bank. A large portion of the files consists only of electrostatic copies of the covers of non-Bank reports or publications that were sent to Ahmed and that he then forwarded to a Bank staff member or circulated to the IEC managers. Other documents in the files are memoranda from IEC staff concerning external-Bank issues; copies of Ahmed's letters sent to or received from non-Bank personnel; intra-IEC memoranda concerning attendance at a non-Bank conference or arranging for visits of non-Bank staff to IEC; Ahmed's memoranda to IEC staff regarding his meetings with non-Bank individuals; and requests for copies of IEC reports or publications. Many of the letters and memoranda are electrostatic copies rather than the originals.

The fourth group (5.42 linear feet) consists of printouts of incoming e-mail, September 11, 1994 - December 31, 1995, primarily from World Bank staff, but some e-mails are from staff of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund, and the Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

The final set (1.66 linear feet) includes printouts of outgoing e-mail, September 12, 1994 - December 27, 1995. Some printouts of incoming e-mail are filed with the related outgoing message and are duplicated in the set of incoming e-mail.

In early 1996, Masood Ahmed began a transition from the position of the Director of International Economics Department (IEC) to Vice President of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network (PREM). The IEC was terminated within the DEC Vice-Presidency in July 1997, and PREM was launched in July 1997. The DEC VP oversaw much of Ahmed's transition into PREM, primarily because a large portion of IEC, its subordinate department, was absorbed by the new network, and DEC was re-organized as a result. This series consists of records from this transition period, and Ahmed's involvement in planning and implementing PREM.

The series consists of chronological files, including communications between Ahmed and the DEC Vice-President Joseph Stiglitz. The records primarily relate to: the re-organization of DEC with the closure of IEC; PREM's possible collaboration with or inclusion in DEC; updates on the planning of PREM; and what functions and actions will be mapped into potential sector departments in PREM. These records date from December 1996 to June 1997. Additional chronological files consist of correspondence and memoranda related to various discussions, topics, and meetings concerning PREM's launch, and administrative structure. Ahmed's handwritten notes are also interfiled among the chronological files. These records date from November 1996 to December 1997.

The second part of the series contains records related to PREM planning meetings and retreats. These records concern the Operations Vice Presidents (OVPs) -meetings and retreats attended by Network Heads from other newly launched networks. The OVP meetings records contain: agenda and meeting minutes; correspondence; memoranda; budgeting reports; business plan reports for each network; and network update reports for various meetings and retreats from December 1996 to August 1997. Separate subject files for the other two networks involved in the OVP meetings (Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network [ESSD] and the Human DevelopmentNetwork [HDN]) are also included. Other planning materials relate to: development of sector departments and boards; development of PREM functions; short-term outputs for the PREM launch; development of PREM technical standards; budgeting for PREM; development of PREM knowledge and information infrastructure; and development of PREM evaluation and monitoring. These meeting records include agenda and meeting minutes, memoranda, correspondences, and handwritten notes. PREM produced reports, business strategy plans, and printed presentation slides are also included. These records date from January 1997 to December 1997.

The last part of this series includes records related to selection of management for PREM and mapping of staff for potential sector departments. These records consist of Ahmed's handwritten notes; potential candidate lists; background information, including CVs and biographical information; memoranda; agenda and meeting minutes from selection management meetings; and correspondence discussing candidates. Some of the records relate to the Poverty and Social Policy Department (PSP). This department briefly fell under the IEC's supervision following the closure of the Human Capital Development Vice Presidency (HCD) in December 1996. The PSP became the Poverty, Gender, and Management Units (PGP) during this short period in the first half of 1997. PGP staff was eventually mapped into the new sector departments of PREM. The PSP records discuss this staff mapping from PGP into PREM and also the absorption of past PSP functions and activities into PREM. Similarly, mapping and management selection records discuss disbursement of staff from Ahmed's own IEC, which was closed in mid-1997. PREM additionally mapped and selected candidates from other sources. Records related to the Bank Human Resources and management selection meetings discuss potential candidates and selection procedures. The mapping and management selection records are dated January 1997 to December 1997.

This series contains files documenting the drafting and review of Country Program Papers (CPPs), Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), Country Assistance Strategies (CASs) and several Country Strategy Notes (CSNs) and Country Economic Memoranda (CEMs). These files were maintained by the Development Policy Group (DPG) and by its predecessor, the Economic Advisory Staff (EAS). Both units were responsible for shepherding CSPs etc. through the review process.

The small number of items dated prior to the 1987 Reorganization and the establishment of EAS are primarily only copies of Country Program Papers, Special Country Program Papers (SCPPs), or Country Program Notes (CPN) and copies of Postscripts of Operations Policy Subcommittee reviews of CPPs; there are very few memoranda discussing drafts or commenting on the CPP/CPN content. The document copies were forwarded to the Vice President for Development Policy (VPD) and to units within VPD: the Policy Planning and Program Review Department (DPP) and the Program Review Division (PPPR); to the Economics and Research Staff (ERS); and to the Country Policy Department (CPD) in the Operations Policy Complex (OPS).

The more complete files in this series cover the period from 1987 to 1994 and contain records documenting the entire CSP/CAS drafting and review process and the input of EAS/DEC staff into that review process: a draft Initiating Memorandum (IM) or brief prepared by Regional staff and comments on the draft IM from units throughout the Bank; a summary of the meeting in which the draft IM was discussed; a working level draft CSP developed by Regional staff and comments on the draft and minutes of the review meeting at which the draft was discussed; the agenda and minutes of the Regional VP (Loan Committee) review meeting; a revised draft CSP incorporating changes agreed upon in the Regional VP review; the Operations Committee review draft of the CSP with comments on the draft from Regional staff and staff in EAS/DPG/DECVP; an agenda with background information prepared by EAS for the Operations Committee (OC) meeting to discuss the draft CSP; comments forwarded to EAS/DPG on the draft Operation Committee minutes and on the draft CSP; an Operations Committee Postscript written by EAS to incorporate decisions made in the OC meeting and comments received from all units following the OC meeting; the President's Review draft of the CSP or CAS and related comments from Bank units; minutes of President's Review meeting; the President's comments on the CSP following the President's Review meeting; handwritten notes taken by EAS/DPG staff and by the Chief Economist (DECVP) at the various review meetings; news notices and magazine articles (primarily from The Economist, Financial Times, and Far Eastern Economic Review) regarding the country that was the subject of the CSP; internal EAS, DPG, and DECVP memoranda discussing the various drafts and/or commenting on the various review meetings; comments on the CSP/CAS from staff within DEC units, especially the Policy Research Department (PRD), the Research Advisory Staff (RAD), and the International Economics Department (IEC); and correspondence between EAS/DPG staff and Regional staff during the entire drafting and review process. In some cases, the DPG representative who attended the Regional Loan Committee meeting wrote his own post-meeting review to the files. The file on South Africa is an aberration; it contain nothing but news updates on the political situation in South Africa from 1992 to 1994 and one summary of discussionsof the situation in South Africa at a December 9, 1993, meeting of the Executive Directors.

This series contains copies of 30 articles, lectures, and speeches authored by Anne O. Kreuger, Vice President, Economics and Research (VPERS). In some cases, the title page indicates at which conference or seminar the paper was delivered or in which periodical it was to be published.

This series contains the minutes, agenda, and other records of the Research Policy Council (RPC) and the Bank Research Advisory Group (BRAG). Based on the recommendations in a report on the management of Bank research which was produced by a study team under the auspices of the Organization Planning Department (OPD), President A. W. Clausen established the RPC on August 2, 1983 to provide overall leadership in the guidance, coordination and evaluation of all Bank research. Anne Krueger, Vice President, Economics and Research Staff (VPERS), served as chairperson. The RPC records in this series consist primarily of agenda and minutes of meetings, August 1983 - February 1987. Filed with some of the agenda are copies of the issues papers to be discussed at the meetings. Included with the records are: a small file of May 1987 intra-Bank memoranda regarding the Internal Audit Department's proposed review of the comparative studies program, and memoranda and issuances, August 1983 - October 1985, outlining the role of the RPC and how it changed the role of the Research Committee. There is also a copy of the minutes of the first meeting (November 19, 1987) of the Research and Publications Policy Council (RPPC) which replaced the RPC.

The Bank Research Advisory Group (BRAG) was established by the RPC to advise it on a wide range of Bank views on research issues of interest to the Council and to assist the RPC in formulating institutionally relevant research priorities. Anne Krueger (VPERS) chaired BRAG and appointed its members after consultation with the RPC. The BRAG had a membership of 20 senior Bank staff chosen so as to ensure a wide representation of perspectives. The Secretary of the RPC was also an ex-officio member of BRAG. The BRAG records in this series consist of: lists of the BRAG members; Anne Krueger's correspondence with members, February-August 1984; copies of key documents establishing BRAG and outlining its duties; and agenda and minutes of the two BRAG meetings, April 12, 1984 and October 4, 1984. Filed with the agenda are copies of documents to be discussed at the meetings, including a copy of the October 1984 report on dissemination of the Bank's research output that was prepared by a BRAG subcommittee, chaired by C. Michalopoulos.

This series contains primarily letters and memoranda sent and received by the staff of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD) and by members of the Development Policy Staff and departments. The series consists of two parts: general correspondence and correspondence concerning research on specific subjects (sectors). Much of the general correspondence is from the secretary of the Research Committee (RC) forwarding to committee members meeting agenda, packets of materials to be reviewed in meetings, and minutes of meetings; establishing informal review panels to evaluate research proposals; requesting or commenting on project narratives, status reports, project abstracts, or completion reports from project managers; responding to requests for research funds from non-Bank economists; and transmitting ideas for the World Development Report (WDR) to the WDR staff.

Other correspondence includes letters from VPD Chenery inviting Bank staff to be members of the Research Committee; memoranda from the chairsof review panels reporting the results of the panels' reviews; memoranda from the RC secretary and from other VPD staff outlining procedures for submission and review of research proposals and explaining why a research proposal was not approved by the RC or what changes were required before approval would be granted; letters from Regional economists or from sector staff transmitting research proposals to the RC; and memoranda from the Director, Development Policy, responding to questions from the Executive Directors regarding the Bank's research program. Beginning in May 1978, much of the correspondence consists of copies of letters sent by President McNamara and by VPD staff to members of the General Research Advisory Panel and the Special Research Advisory Panels. Also included is correspondence regarding implementation of the Panels' recommendations. At the end of the general correspondence, there is a folder containing copies of the FY 1977 annual report: World Bank Research Program, January 23, 1978, and a June 19, 1979 Updating Report on the World Bank Research Program.

The second part of the series, which primarily concerns sector research, includes comments on research proposals, review panels' decisions on proposals, Back-to-Office reports from research-related missions, and correspondence responding to GRAP recommendations for research in a sector.

This series contains the records of the General Research Advisory Panel (GRAP), reports of most of the Special Research Advisory Panels, and detailed records of two of the Special Panels: the Research Advisory Panel on Industrial Development and Trade (ID and T) and the Research Advisory Panel on Income Distribution and Employment (RAPIDE). The GRAP was a panel of outside experts chaired by Sir Arthur Lewis and established by the Bank in 1978 to review the entire research program of the Bank. GRAP was assisted in its work by eight Special Research Advisory Panels which examined and made recommendations on Bank research in specific sectors: Agriculture and Rural Development; Industrial Development and Trade; Commodities; Energy, Water and Telecommunications; Transport; Income Distribution and Employment; Education; and Population. For administrative purposes, the panels were assigned to the Office of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD), and Suman Bery in VPD served as secretary.

The GRAP records include: biographical notes on and Terms of Reference for panel members; a letter of appointment for each panel member; extensive background documents on the World Bank, the World Bank research program, and the Research Committee; lists of assignments for individual panel members; schedules for the October 26 - 28, 1978, March 5 - 7, 1979, and June 6 - 8, 1979 meetings and handwritten notes from the October and June meetings; various drafts of the panel's report and comments on the drafts from Bank staff; drafts and the final printed copy of President McNamara's November 6, 1979 memorandum to the Executive Directors regarding the GRAP report; the final printed GRAP report dated August 13, 1979 (R79-221); a Summary of Discussion at the Meeting of Executive Directors of the Bank and IDA, December 4, 1979 at which the GRAP report was discussed; memoranda to VPD Chenery regarding the responses of individual Executive Directors to the GRAP report and to President McNamara's memorandum on the report; and Bank staff memoranda regarding the GRAP recommendation for a Research Subsidiary in the Bank. Also included are 1979 - 1980 Bank memoranda regarding: planned follow-up to the GRAP report; funding and guidelines for research; and the Development Policy Staff (DPS) work program and budget for FY 81.

The records of the Research Advisory Panel on Income Distribution and Employment (RAPIDE) include: biographical notes on and Terms of Reference for panel members; individual panel members' letter of appointment and correspondence with other panel members and with Michael Beenstock in the Policy Planning Division who served as coordinator for RAPIDE; copies of Bank documents Beenstock provided the panel members as background material, including a number of memoranda concerning the Bank's research on Income Distribution and Employment; a list of specific assignments for individual members; the schedule for the panel meeting held October 10 - 12, 1977; correspondence with the chair of GRAP regarding the work of the RAPIDE members; various drafts of portions of the panel's report; a copy of the final draft, dated April 10, 1978; and comments from Bank staff on that draft.

The records of the Research Advisory Panel on Industrial Development and Trade (ID and T) include: biographical notes on and Terms of Reference for panel members; letters of appointment; background materials including memoranda and reports from Bank staff regarding research on industry and trade; schedules for the July 17 - 1, 1978, October 10 - 12, 1978, November 30 - December 2, 1978, and February 8 - 9, 1979 meetings and handwritten notes from the July and October meetings; various drafts of the panel's report and comments on the drafts from Bank staff; and copies of first and second Interim Reports of the Industry and Trade Research Steering Committee.

Included in this series are draft final reports for all the special panels except the ones on Population and on Education which are filed separately in (see folder numbers 30135058 and 30135060). Also included are copies of the Terms of Reference and the background reports for the Panel on Energy, Water and Telecommunications and a July 13, 1978 memorandum outlining plans for future work for the Panel on Transport.

These files were compiled by the Senior Adviser whose title became in April 1974 Director, Development Policy. That position was held by Ernest Stern from 1972 to September 1975 and by Attila Karaosmanoglu from October 1975 to June 1979. The files include correspondence, reports, studies, publications and policy papers regarding commodities and Bank policy towards specific commodities. Topics covered include Bank policy for financing the production of a specific commodity, Bank policy on publication of information on commodities, commodity price forecasts and stabilization, and analysis of world production and demand for a commodity.

These Policy Review Committee (PRC) records were maintained by the Senior Adviser whose title became in April 1974 Director, Development Policy, positions held by Ernest Stern from 1971 to September 1975; by Attila Karaosmanoglu from October 1975 to June 1979; and by E. Bevin Waide from July 1979 to 1982. A file typically contains a copy of a policy document or issues paper; minutes of the PRC staff review meeting and/or the PRC meeting at which the paper was discussed; and often background materials documenting the development of a policy paper before it reached the PRC including: comments on the draft paper from Development Policy staff and staff throughout the Bank, copies of memoranda between the Director, Development Policy and President McNamara and VPD Chenery, intra Development Policy Staff correspondence, and copies of Back-to-Office Reports forwarded to Stern or Karaosmanoglu.

The International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers (Berne Union) was formed in 1934 with members from France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Its purpose was to foster international acceptance of sound principles of export credit insurance; to establish and maintain discipline in terms of credit for international trade; to maintain sound principles of foreign investment insurance; to encourage a favorable investment climate; and to exchange information, assistance, expertise, and advice in relation to the commercial and political risks associated with export credit and investment insurance.

The January 1965 to January 1970 files cover the period when Andr Nespoulous-Neuville served as a World Bank observer to Berne Union Extraordinary General Meetings held in January and Annual General Meetings usually held in May of the same year. Most meeting files for the period include correspondence regarding meeting arrangements, provisional and final programs and lists of participants, lists of countries to be reviewed at the meetings, press releases (press notices), minutes of the meetings provided by the Berne Union Secretary-General, and the observer's Back-to-Office reports. Some of Nespoulous-Neuville's reports and other correspondence regarding Berne Union are addressed to the President of the Bank, the Director and Associate Director of the Development Services Department, and the Director, Development Finance Services where he was on staff.

The file for the 20 - 25 May 1967 Annual General Meeting in Wiesbaden contains a copy of a statement made by Nespoulous-Neuville at the meeting on the World Bank's Staff Study of Supplier' Credits from Industrialized to Developing Countries. The file for the 16 - 20 January 1967 meeting in Meg?ve includes a copy of a January 26, 1967 letter from Nespoulous-Neuville to the Secretary-General of Berne Union informing him that the Berne Union President had agreed at the meeting to send the World Bank all documents of general interest to the Bank. Most of the files dated after this letter usually include statistical data and other Berne Union documents not previously distributed to the Bank. The file for the London meeting, June 4-9, 1968 is the first to include a letter of invitation to the observer to participate in country review discussions at the meetings.

Nespoulous-Neuville left Development Finances Services before the May 1970 Annual General Meeting and was succeeded as a Bank observer at that meeting by Ugo Sachetti, the Director, Development Finance Services, which became the International Finance Division in the January 15, 1971 Bank reorganization. Sachetti served as observer through the May 1971 Annual General Meeting held in Washington, DC. Among topics discussed at that meeting were the responses to a questionnaire regarding the availability of export credit insurance to Ghana. Some responses are part of the file for that meeting.

The series consists of correspondence of Departments and of other organizational units of the Development Policy Staff (DPS), Central Projects Staff (CPS), and the Regional Offices primarily with the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD), the Director, Development Policy, and the DPS Research Adviser concerning research projects in support of operations. Most of these projects were funded through the Bank's External Research Budget beginning in 1972, but the series also includes correspondence relatingto research funded through Department resources. The remainder of the series consists of: research project files, 1972 - 1974 and sector research files, 1975 - 1977.

The research correspondence for the 1972 - 1974 period includes: research proposals forwarded by DPS, CPS, and Regional Office departments to the Research Committee; reports of reviews of research proposals by Research Committee review panels; memos concerning funding estimates for approved research projects; lists of projects requiring funding submitted by the Departments; research project status reports; correspondence of VPD, Bank Departments, and Regional Offices with outside consultants conducting research for approved projects; Terms of Reference (TOR); Back - to - Office Reports (BTOs) for missions associated with research projects; and research proposals from outside researchers and multi-national organizations and responses to these proposals. Also with the 1972 - 1974 correspondence is a copy of the pamphlet World Bank Research Program - Policies and Procedures.

Found with the 1972 - 1974 correspondence are reports prepared in 1973 at the request of Ernest Stern, (Director, Development Policy), which provided information for the first comprehensive report on the Bank's external research program in 1973. Among these reports is a 28 September 1973 status report prepared by the Director, Policy Planning and Program Review Department, DPS of 58 policy papers underway and planned for FY 1974 - FY 1975 and policy papers added, completed, and dropped. A November 30, 1973 update of this report is also in the files. Also among the 1972 - 1974 correspondence are copies of letters and other correspondence concerning the Task Force on Education and Development (ECIEL) and other research issues coming out of the conference on social research held at Bellagio, Italy in February 1974 and co-sponsored by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the Bank, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). Filed at the end of the correspondence for 1972 - 1974 are project files relating to various topics including anthropology, export promotion and preference, growth potential of iron ore from developing countries, and urban transport and the automobile.

The research correspondence for 1975 - 1977, while similar in content to the earlier 1972 - 1974 correspondence, includes for the first time copies of mostly administrative correspondence of the Secretary to the Research Committee, Orville F. Grimes, Jr., including copies of Research Committee review panel announcements and minutes of Research Committee meetings. The 1975 - 1977 correspondence also includes Grimes' memos to supervisors of external research projects requesting input for the Abstracts of Current Studies booklet issued annually; copies of revisions of procedures for preparation and submissions of research proposals and informal guidelines for panel review of proposals issued by the Research Adviser; a copy of a bibliography on foreign aid prepared in VPD and furnished to the Executive Directors (EDS) on 19 March 1976 covering publications dated from 1968 to 1975; drafts of sections of the Annual Report on Research forwarded for comment by VPD; correspondence concerning the formation in 1977 of the Research Advisory Panel on Income Distribution and Employment (RAPIDE), including an informal history of the origins of the Research Committee prepared by Grimes (10 October 1972); and a report prepared at VPD's request by the Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, concerning prospective research in country analysis and identification of areas justifying increased external funding or internal staff time.

Immediately following the research correspondence, 1975 - 1977 are three folders, apparently created by Grimes, which contain copies of grey cover annual reports of the World Bank Research Program for 30 December 1975, 8 January 1975, and 13 January 1977, and an annotated draft of the annual report for 1978. A folder on cotton research precedes the 1975-1977 sector research project files which are similar in content to the earlier (1972 - 1974) research project files. The kinds of documents found in the three 1975-1977 research study files at the end of the series (Kenya Socio-Economic Impact, Private Sector Development Study, Socio-Economic Impact Study) are similar to those found in the earlier research project files.

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.

The series consists of documents sent electronically within the WDR team, to other parts of DEC, and to other Bank organizations. The WDR team reported directly to DECVP and had primary responsibility for the Bank assessment of the state of the global economy found in the annual WDR and for selecting an aspect of development to be analyzed in depth for the annual report. The documents in this series reflect the process of information gathering, analysis, and review involved in the preparation of the annual WDR, including briefing of the Bank President. Also documented is the collaboration that took place with other Bank organizations for information and data needed for the report as well as consultation with outside groups including NGOs. Summaries of meetings at which the WDR was discussed are in the series. Michael Bruno was DECVP for most of the period covered by these records.