Series - Research File of Bela Balassa

Export Incentives and export growth in developing countries - set Tunisia - Papers - Research on Economics and Development - Bela Balassa - Correspondence

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-16

Title

Research File of Bela Balassa

Date(s)

  • 1973 - 1991 (predominant 1982 - 1987) (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

4.91 linear feet of textual records

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Most of the correspondence in this series covers the period when Balassa reported both to the Vice President, Development Policy Staff (VPD, later Vice President, Economics and Research [VPERS)] and to the Director of the Development Research Center (DRC), and, after the 1987 Reorganization, the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP). He also served during this period as Chairman of the Development Policy Staff Trade Advisory Committee. The files are loosely organized around Balassa's projects while serving as consultant to the Bank during this period.

Included are Balassa's completion reports for some of the projects he personally carried out, his comments on proposals and research projects conducted by others in the Bank, and correspondence with the Research Projects Approval Committee (REPAC) and the head of the Research Administration Unit in VPERS. Some files contain background materials, including statistical data, used in Balassa's research. Specific documents include: Terms of Reference (TOR) for a May-June 1983 mission to Tunisia led by Balassa that constituted the first phase of a study on employment creation; his TOR and Back-to-Office (BTO) Report for a January 1985 Industrial Policy Mission he led to Tunisia; and his report on his coordination of a Latin American development strategy study (introduced by David Rockefeller) while on leave from Johns Hopkins University. Correspondence, including a BTO Report, for a mission to Venezuela Balassa led from January to October 1987 to hold discussions with the Venezuelan government on the economy and possible resumption of Bank lending is also part of the series.

Also included in the series are copies of talking points and papers Belassa prepared at the request of high-level Bank officials and correspondence with DECVP. Belassa's handwritten notes and drafts can be found throughout the series.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Records are arranged by project.

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.

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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) -- Reading File of Bela Balassa (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-15); Records of the Office of the Chief Economist -- Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD) and the Development Policy Staff -- Correspondence and Research Files Created for Research Projects in Support of Operations (Operations Policy Files) (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-01-02); 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).

Related descriptions

Notes area

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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

28 September 2011

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Accession area