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.