Series - Reading File of Bela Balassa

Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - March through April... Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - October through Dec... Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - June through Octobe... Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - September through M... Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - April through Augus... Bela Balassa's chron files - September 1981 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - September through D... Bela Balassa's chron files - January 1983 Bela Balassa's chron files - March 1981 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - December 1972 throu... Bela Balassa's chron files - June 1982 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - December 1966 throu... Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - December 1967 throu... Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - June through Novemb... Bela Balassa's chron files - May 1982 Bela Balassa's chron files - July 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - January 1982 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - April through Augus... Bela Balassa's chron files - August 1982 Bela Balassa's chron files - July 1982 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - May through July 1967 Bela Balassa's chron files - February 1983 Bela Balassa's chron files - December 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - August 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - November 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - December 1982 Bela Balassa's chron files - Febraury 1982 Bela Balassa's chron files - May 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - April 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - March 1982 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - January through May... Bela Balassa's chron files - November 1982 Bela Balassa's chron files - January 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - October 1982 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - August through Nove... Bela Balassa's chron files - Febraury 1981 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - January through May... Bela Balassa's chron files - March 1983 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - August 1971 through... Bela Balassa's chron files - June 1981 Bela Balassa's chron files - September 1982 Bela Balassa's chron files - April 1982 Bela Balassa's chron files - October 1981 Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Chronological Record - November 1969 throu...

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-15

Title

Reading File of Bela Balassa

Date(s)

  • 1966 - 1977, 1977 - 1989, 1989 - 1991 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

12.00 linear feet of textual records

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This reading file covers Balassa's work as a consultant for the World Bank from September 1966 to May 1991. Bela Balassa was recruited in 1966 by Irving S. Friedman, The Economic Adviser to the President, as a consultant adviser to the Economics Department of the Bank. Balassa had recently been appointed Professor of Political Economy at The Johns Hopkins University and prior to that was on the faculty of Yale University. Balassa worked closely with Friedman and Andrew Kamarck, the Director of the Economics Department, and later with Hollis B. Chenery after he was appointed Economic Adviser to the Bank President in October 1970.

Through successive Bank reorganizations, Balassa served as a consultant policy adviser and prepared papers at the request of Operations and other Bank units, led Bank missions to developing countries, supervised research performed in Regional offices, and conducted his own research and writing. He served as a consultant in DEC at the time of his death on May 10, 1991.

During theperiod 1966-1970, the series includes Balassa's letters and Back-to-Office Reports for missions to Argentina, Korea, Taiwan, and Israel, letters sent in conjunction with the Development Strategies in Semi-Industrial Countries and Export Promotion in Developing Countries projects, and letters to outside economists invited to attend meetings at the Bank on the Structure of Protection in Developing Countries.

Letters and memoranda for the 1971-1981 period continue to document his duties as Research Adviser to the Economics Department and to the Vice President, Development Policy Hollis Chenery who was appointed the Economic Adviser to the Bank President. Balassa also consulted with Ernest Stern, Senior Adviser, Development Policy and officials of other Bank departments on policy issues and participated in economic or advisory missions. In February 1972 he was transferred to the Development Research Center. Letters and memoranda for the period afterward indicate that Belassa continued to lead or otherwise participate in missions; performed other policy advisory work for Regional Offices, other parts of the Bank, and governments of less developed countries; assisted the Research Committee (later the Research Projects Approval Committee [REPAC]) in panel review of research proposals; provided leadership to the Industrial Development and Trade Steering Group; commented on the quality and distribution of World Bank staff working papers; and conducted his own research and writing

Beginning in 1982, Balassa reported to the Vice President, Development Policy Staff (later Vice President, Economics and Research [ERS]) and to the Director of the Development Research Department. Letters and memoranda indicate his increased involvement in policy advising and operational support both to senior Bank management and Regional Offices and continued participation in missions and in the Research Committee. After the 1987 Reorganization, Balassa reported to the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DEC). A copy of an August 4, 1987 report on World Bank Research prepared at the request of the Senior Vice President, Policy, Planning and Research is in the file. A number of letters and reports after that date and continuing through 1991 concern Balassa's review of papers in the Policy, Planning and Research (PPR, later PRE [Policy, Research, and External Affairs]) Working Papers series. Included in the PPR/PRE series were World Development Reports and other papers prepared by organizations within DECVP, IEC [International Economics Department], and CEC [Country Economics Department].

Throughout the series are copies of papers Balassa prepared at the request of the Board and Bank offices, copies of research papers and lectures prepared for Bank-IMF sponsored conferences and for meetings of international organizations, reports prepared after returning to the Bank from outside meetings on economic issues and trade policy, and letters concerning his books and other publications.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Records are arranged chronologically.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

Language of material

  • English
  • French
  • Hungarian

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

An inventory list is available here.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

  • Records of the Office of the Chief Economist -- Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and Later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) -- Research File of Bela Balassa (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-16); Records of the Office of the Chief Economist -- Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and Later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) -- Publication File of Bela Balassa (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-17). See Records of the Office of the Chief Economist -- Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and Later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) -- Research Project Files Maintained in the Office of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD) and the Office of the Vice President, Economics and Research (VPERS) (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-75), particularly RPO 675-37, for a project for publishing essays in honor of Bela Balassa; Records of the Office of the Chief Economist -- Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and Later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) -- Research Project Files Maintained by the Research Administrator (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-77). Also see Records of the Office of the Chief Economist -- Records of the Economics and Research Staff (ERS) -- Files Regarding the Publication and Dissemination of Research Products (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-02-08).

  • Records of Individual Staff Members -- Ernest Stern files (WB IBRDIDA STAFF-10).

  • See the following oral histories: Hollis B. Chenery; Irving S. Friedman; Ernest Stern; and Anne O. Krueger.

  • Personal papers of Irving Friedman (WB IBRD/IDA FRIEDMAN).

  • See Records of the Office of the Historian -- World Bank History Project -- Interviews (WB IBRD/IDA HIST-01-10), for notes of an interview with Stanley Fisher.

  • Personal Papers of Hollis B. Chenery (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA 96).

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

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Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

3 October 2011

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area