Which World Bank Reports are Widely Read?

34 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Doerte Doemeland

Doerte Doemeland

World Bank

James Trevino

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Date Written: May 1, 2014

Abstract

Knowledge is central to development. The World Bank invests about one-quarter of its budget for country services in knowledge products. Still, there is little research about the demand for these knowledge products and how internal knowledge flows affect their demand. About 49 percent of the World Bank's policy reports, which are published Economic and Sector Work or Technical Assistance reports, have the stated objective of informing the public debate or influencing the development community. This study uses information on downloads and citations to assesses whether policy reports meet this objective. About 13 percent of policy reports were downloaded at least 250 times while more than 31 percent of policy reports are never downloaded. Almost 87 percent of policy reports were never cited. More expensive, complex, multi-sector, core diagnostics reports on middle-income countries with larger populations tend to be downloaded more frequently. Multi-sector reports also tend to be cited more frequently. Internal knowledge sharing matters as cross support provided by the World Bank's Research Department consistently increases downloads and citations.

Keywords: Population Policies, Banks & Banking Reform, Public Sector Corruption & Anticorruption Measures, Information Security & Privacy, Children and Youth

Suggested Citation

Doemeland, Doerte and Trevino, James, Which World Bank Reports are Widely Read? (May 1, 2014). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 6851, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2431989

Doerte Doemeland (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

James Trevino

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20551
United States

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