Based on previously untapped archival material, this chapter discusses the establishment of the operations evaluation function at the World Bank between the mid-1960s and the early 1970s, and the conflicting visions that shaped it. The birth of the operations evaluation function at the Bank was...

A number of recent studies have empirically documented links between characteristics of World Bank projects and their ultimate outcomes as evaluated by the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group. This paper explores the in-sample and out-of-sample predictive performance of empirical models...

This report has been prepared in the context of a major global effort in the past eight years to better measure results in development assistance. The agenda for this effort was articulated and refined in a series of international conferences, beginning with the international conference on...

The literature on development effectiveness has traditionally focused on the ex-post analysis of projects. While this is the appropriate method of measuring benefits, a previous step must be taken as a forerunner to good ex-post evaluation: the measurement of the efficiency in the execution of...

Cost-benefit analysis used to be one of the World Bank's signature issues. It helped establish its reputation as the knowledge Bank and served to demonstrate its commitment to measuring results and ensuring accountability to taxpayers. It was the Bank's answer to the results agenda long before...

This report completes the second phase of the Operations Evaluation Department's independent evaluation of the World Bank's involvement in global programs. This Phase 2 report is based on case studies of 26 (of a total of 70) Bank-supported global programs that accounted for 90 percent of the...