# WPS 1212

Thi-s paper -a produJct of the Ghana Resident Mission - was prepared for presentation at the Eastern Economic Associati.,n meetings, Wasvhington, DC. March 19-21, 1993. Copies of this papr are available free from the World _kbank.,_ P.O. Box M27, Accra, Ghana. Please contact Phyllis-Maile Attipoe, Ghana Resident Mission, extension _526-3003_ (October 1993, 15 pages).

Kanbur gives examples of rese&rch recently published in professional joumnals that directly helped, or could help, in formulating policy advice (and perhaps even poflcymaldng). An article by Younger (I 992) was helpful in analyzing a problem in Ghana, where aid flows to govemnment crowded out the private sector (especially private inve3tmnent), which competed for scarce domestc resources. Younger suggested that tighter fiscal policy combined with looser monetary policy would promote more investment. Younger's analysis helped frame "thinking in an area where muddleheadedness is common," and provided Kanbur with analytical ammunition when he supported budgetary restraint. In another example, research based on the Ghana Living Standards Survey helped identify the povertv consequences of altemnative revenue instruments.

T'he link between economic policy and research _can_ be made, says Kanbur, but that does not mean it _will_ be made. Usually such a link relsies on the chance placing of a researcher in the policymaking and advising trenches.

One problem is that policymakers face highly specific, timebound problems and are interested only in answers to particular questions, But what matters to researchers is the genierality of results or the methodological innvations in analysis. Journals tumn down papers that answer very specific polcy questons.

The appropriate dissemination of research results requires that researchers speak the language of po!icymakers. Kanbur proposes that:

*Professional researchers should do highly country-speciflc and policy-specific studies that u.,'e the best-practice methodological tools plus a detaled institutional knowledge of the country.

* There should be a continuous attempt at synthesizing the findings of professional research for the benefit of the policy community, as is done in the _World Bank Research Observer._ "We need single-page or double-page flysheets summarizing rcsearch results," says Kanbur, particularly those that are country-specific and policy-specific.

*Research should be presented in short, pithy summaries that policymakers and their top advisors can understand, setting out the policy question addressed and the answer provided (the latter are not so common, especially for Africa). "A basic rule of thumb I have developed is that anything longer than two pages is unlikely to be read by the most senior policymakers, the limit for the next most senior is four pages, then eight pages, and 16 pages. If it is longer than 16 pages, do not bother to send it to the policy fraternity (unless it is prefaced by a two-page sumrmary)."

T'he Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work under way in the Bank. An objective of the series is to get these fmd- igs out quickly, even if presentations are less than fully polished. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in these papers do not necess&iily represent official Bank policy.

Pr-duced by the Policy Research Dissemination Cem~~t