Research at the Bank is different from research in universities and free-standing research institutes in at least two ways. First, the Bank's operations serve as a constant reminder of the complexity of real world problems and constraints, raising issues for research and underscoring the need for practical solutions. Second, those operations provide a unique mechanism for putting the new ideas that emanate from Bank research into practice.
There is no simple relationship between operations and research, no single life-cycle for research. The patterns of interaction, the flows of information, who leads and who follows---all these can vary considerably from one research project to another. But some important common elements show how Bank research is at once similar to and very different from research in other environments.
When the Bank sets out to explore a new area, it must be prepared for a considerable period of investment during which the operational payoff may be limited. This phase of Bank research often looks similar to "academic" research outside the Bank as researchers work to adapt theories and methods to a new problem or issue. Its direct payoff is in underscoring the Bank's intellectual leadership in the development research community.
At the end of this initial investment period, both the researchers and their work are at a crossroads. The methods and theories are there. But how should they be refined? How can they be made practical? At this stage the road taken often depends on the influence of Bank operations. The influence of operations on research can be subtle and indirect, but it is very real. When the research process is working at its best, operations staff and researchers work together to discover new solutions to old problems and, not infrequently, to a host of new problems as well. This cross-fertilization is what makes Bank research unique.
One statement of the Bank's research (and policy) priorities is the list of names of the departments and divisions responsible for research (see the box on page 3). For example, the Bank did not have an Environment Department before 1987 but it does now. This does not mean that the Bank had no interest in environmental issues (before 1987). It means that senior management decided in 1987 to heighten the Bank's commitment to such issues. The Bank has found that setting priorities in the absence of an administrative mechanism to serve those priorities seldom produces results.
Naturally, the Bank can undertake research on only a fraction of the interesting issues even in priority areas. Some mechanisms are therefore needed to ensure that divisional and departmental research efforts are devoted to areas with the highest potential policy payoff. This is no easy matter because research, by its nature, is a highly uncertain undertaking.
Over the years the Bank has used several mechanisms to set research priorities and to ensure that research is serving institutional priorities.
Since 1987 the Research and Publications Policy Council (RPPC)---drawn from the ranks of the Bank senior managers, principally vice presidents---has set broad priority guidelines for Bank supported research. The Research Committee---drawn from managers and senior staff from throughout the Bank---interprets and applies these broad guidelines and works with staff to develop research in newly established priority areas.
Members of the Research Committee serve in their individual capacities but are selected to provide representation from throughout the Bank, especially the Operations Complex. The Committee's main tasks are to ensure that research is technically sound and serves institutional priorities as established by the President and the RPPC. It does this through its own deliberations and by passing proposals through an anonymous review process that draws on experts in and outside the Bank.
Bank research is funded through two sources: departmental resources, mainly staff time, and the Research Support Budget (RSB), which allows Bank management to introduce flexibility, competitiveness, and openness into the research process.
To be considered by the Research Committee, proposals must be sponsored by a Bank department (the RSB does not support free-standing external research) and are generally expected to be part of the department's larger research program. RSB funds go mainly for the support of researchers outside the Bank (the RSB cannot be used to support Bank staff salaries)---and departments are expected to contribute staff time to RSB-funded proposals. Although all RSB-funded research must be relevant to Bank operations, the Research Committee is careful to ensure that these funds go mainly for longer term research with relatively broad implications for the institution.
The RSB also supports several activities that, while not properly research projects, add to the value of Bank research and enhance the Bank's image as an intellectual leader in the field of development research. The Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, the Visiting Research Fellow Program, and the Bank's research journals are examples. The RSB is also the source of funding for the Bank's direct contributions to research capacity building in its member countries, providing support for several research networks in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Departmental inputs into Bank research are determined initially by department directors and their staff, and reviewed and revised through work program reviews at vice presidential and senior vice presidential levels. Research projects that are funded only by departmental resources make up about half of the Bank's overall research program and take place mainly in the Policy, Research, and External Affairs Complex.
The next issue will spell out some of the Bank's research priorities for the 1990s.