World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview

The World Bank is a leading intellectual institution on development. It is a world leader in analytical studies in areas including poverty measurement, delivery of social services, impact evaluation, measurement of development outcomes, internatio...

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Main Author: Dethier, Jean-Jacques
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090717171036
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4194
id okr-10986-4194
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-41942021-04-23T14:02:16Z World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview Dethier, Jean-Jacques ACCOUNTABILITY ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS BASIC RESEARCH CAPITAL FLOWS CHRONOLOGY CITIES CLIENT COUNTRIES COLLABORATION COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS CONSOLIDATION CORRUPTION COUNTERFACTUAL DEBT DECISION-MAKING DEMOCRACY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME ECONOMIC STABILITY ECONOMICS EMERGING MARKETS EQUILIBRIUM MODELS EVALUATIVE STUDIES EX POST EVALUATION EXCHANGE RATES EXPERIMENTS EXTERNALITIES FINANCIAL POLICIES FLEXIBILITY FORECASTS FOREIGN EXCHANGE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HOUSING IMPACT EVALUATION INCOME DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT INNOVATIONS INTEREST RATES LABOR MARKETS LEARNING LICENSING LIVING STANDARDS MACROECONOMICS MANDATES MIGRATION MODELING POVERTY REDUCTION PRIVATIZATION PRODUCTIVITY PROGRAMS PUBLIC ENTERPRISES PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SERVICES QUASIEXPERIMENTAL METHODS REORGANIZATION RESEARCH CAPACITY RESEARCH CAPACITY BUILDING RESEARCH EXPENDITURES RESEARCH FINDINGS RESEARCH FUNDS RESEARCH INSTITUTES RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS RESEARCH MANAGEMENT RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH PRIORITIES RESEARCH PROGRAMS RESEARCH PROJECTS RESEARCH REPORT RESEARCH REPORTS RESEARCH SERVICES RESEARCH THEMES RESEARCH WORKING PAPERS RESEARCHERS RESOURCE ALLOCATION RETURN ON EQUITY SAVINGS SCIENTISTS SOCIAL INDICATORS SOCIAL JUSTICE SOCIAL SCIENCES SOCIAL SERVICES STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT SURVEY DATA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TARGETING TRADE FLOWS TRUST FUNDS URBANIZATION VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWS PROGRAM The World Bank is a leading intellectual institution on development. It is a world leader in analytical studies in areas including poverty measurement, delivery of social services, impact evaluation, measurement of development outcomes, international trade and migration. It is also a leader in development data, including the Living Standard Measurement Surveys; the enterprise surveys, and the International Price Comparison Project. World Bank research is resolutely empirical and policy oriented. By both learning from past policies and operations and thinking critically about future policies, research plays a critical role in the formulation of policy advice to developing countries. This paper reviews the intellectual and institutional forces that have shaped research at the World Bank since the latter started lending to developing countries in the early 1950s. It provides an overview of the shifts in development economics that have influenced Bank research and briefly surveys the changes in research organization, structure and approach. The first section, after a short introduction, examines the shifts in positive and normative views about development during the past half century that have influenced Bank thinking. The Bank itself has been an active participant in the rise and fall of long-lived development dogmas about the nature of development; the most appropriate policies and actions for achieving it; and the respective roles of government and markets. The second section examines how the World Bank has adapted its organization to keep abreast of emerging issues and produce relevant policy research of good quality. On the one hand, the Bank has experienced several reorganizations that have affected the research unit(s) as well as its relationship with operational units. On the other hand, the Bank s research units themselves have been reorganized at several junctures, leading to new priorities and new means of achieving them. 2012-03-19T19:11:36Z 2012-03-19T19:11:36Z 2009-07-01 http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090717171036 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4194 English Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5000 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper The World Region The World Region
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ACCOUNTABILITY
ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS
BASIC RESEARCH
CAPITAL FLOWS
CHRONOLOGY
CITIES
CLIENT COUNTRIES
COLLABORATION
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
CONSOLIDATION
CORRUPTION
COUNTERFACTUAL
DEBT
DECISION-MAKING
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
ECONOMIC STABILITY
ECONOMICS
EMERGING MARKETS
EQUILIBRIUM MODELS
EVALUATIVE STUDIES
EX POST EVALUATION
EXCHANGE RATES
EXPERIMENTS
EXTERNALITIES
FINANCIAL POLICIES
FLEXIBILITY
FORECASTS
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
HOUSING
IMPACT EVALUATION
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
INNOVATIONS
INTEREST RATES
LABOR MARKETS
LEARNING
LICENSING
LIVING STANDARDS
MACROECONOMICS
MANDATES
MIGRATION
MODELING
POVERTY REDUCTION
PRIVATIZATION
PRODUCTIVITY
PROGRAMS
PUBLIC ENTERPRISES
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SERVICES
QUASIEXPERIMENTAL METHODS
REORGANIZATION
RESEARCH CAPACITY
RESEARCH CAPACITY BUILDING
RESEARCH EXPENDITURES
RESEARCH FINDINGS
RESEARCH FUNDS
RESEARCH INSTITUTES
RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS
RESEARCH MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS
RESEARCH POLICY
RESEARCH PRIORITIES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESEARCH PROJECTS
RESEARCH REPORT
RESEARCH REPORTS
RESEARCH SERVICES
RESEARCH THEMES
RESEARCH WORKING PAPERS
RESEARCHERS
RESOURCE ALLOCATION
RETURN ON EQUITY
SAVINGS
SCIENTISTS
SOCIAL INDICATORS
SOCIAL JUSTICE
SOCIAL SCIENCES
SOCIAL SERVICES
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT
SURVEY DATA
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
TARGETING
TRADE FLOWS
TRUST FUNDS
URBANIZATION
VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWS PROGRAM
spellingShingle ACCOUNTABILITY
ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS
BASIC RESEARCH
CAPITAL FLOWS
CHRONOLOGY
CITIES
CLIENT COUNTRIES
COLLABORATION
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
CONSOLIDATION
CORRUPTION
COUNTERFACTUAL
DEBT
DECISION-MAKING
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
ECONOMIC STABILITY
ECONOMICS
EMERGING MARKETS
EQUILIBRIUM MODELS
EVALUATIVE STUDIES
EX POST EVALUATION
EXCHANGE RATES
EXPERIMENTS
EXTERNALITIES
FINANCIAL POLICIES
FLEXIBILITY
FORECASTS
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
HOUSING
IMPACT EVALUATION
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
INNOVATIONS
INTEREST RATES
LABOR MARKETS
LEARNING
LICENSING
LIVING STANDARDS
MACROECONOMICS
MANDATES
MIGRATION
MODELING
POVERTY REDUCTION
PRIVATIZATION
PRODUCTIVITY
PROGRAMS
PUBLIC ENTERPRISES
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SERVICES
QUASIEXPERIMENTAL METHODS
REORGANIZATION
RESEARCH CAPACITY
RESEARCH CAPACITY BUILDING
RESEARCH EXPENDITURES
RESEARCH FINDINGS
RESEARCH FUNDS
RESEARCH INSTITUTES
RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS
RESEARCH MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS
RESEARCH POLICY
RESEARCH PRIORITIES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESEARCH PROJECTS
RESEARCH REPORT
RESEARCH REPORTS
RESEARCH SERVICES
RESEARCH THEMES
RESEARCH WORKING PAPERS
RESEARCHERS
RESOURCE ALLOCATION
RETURN ON EQUITY
SAVINGS
SCIENTISTS
SOCIAL INDICATORS
SOCIAL JUSTICE
SOCIAL SCIENCES
SOCIAL SERVICES
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT
SURVEY DATA
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
TARGETING
TRADE FLOWS
TRUST FUNDS
URBANIZATION
VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWS PROGRAM
Dethier, Jean-Jacques
World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview
geographic_facet The World Region
The World Region
relation Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5000
description The World Bank is a leading intellectual institution on development. It is a world leader in analytical studies in areas including poverty measurement, delivery of social services, impact evaluation, measurement of development outcomes, international trade and migration. It is also a leader in development data, including the Living Standard Measurement Surveys; the enterprise surveys, and the International Price Comparison Project. World Bank research is resolutely empirical and policy oriented. By both learning from past policies and operations and thinking critically about future policies, research plays a critical role in the formulation of policy advice to developing countries. This paper reviews the intellectual and institutional forces that have shaped research at the World Bank since the latter started lending to developing countries in the early 1950s. It provides an overview of the shifts in development economics that have influenced Bank research and briefly surveys the changes in research organization, structure and approach. The first section, after a short introduction, examines the shifts in positive and normative views about development during the past half century that have influenced Bank thinking. The Bank itself has been an active participant in the rise and fall of long-lived development dogmas about the nature of development; the most appropriate policies and actions for achieving it; and the respective roles of government and markets. The second section examines how the World Bank has adapted its organization to keep abreast of emerging issues and produce relevant policy research of good quality. On the one hand, the Bank has experienced several reorganizations that have affected the research unit(s) as well as its relationship with operational units. On the other hand, the Bank s research units themselves have been reorganized at several junctures, leading to new priorities and new means of achieving them.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Dethier, Jean-Jacques
author_facet Dethier, Jean-Jacques
author_sort Dethier, Jean-Jacques
title World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview
title_short World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview
title_full World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview
title_fullStr World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview
title_full_unstemmed World Bank Policy Research : A Historical Overview
title_sort world bank policy research : a historical overview
publishDate 2012
url http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090717171036
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4194
_version_ 1764390351035957248