Disjunction between policy research and practice: Social benefit-cost analysis and investment policy at the World Bank

One often comes upon cases where, even allowing for long lags, policy-makers do not utilize readily available policy research. The gap between policy research and practice has important consequences, both for researchers and for practitioners. In an effort to clarify the causes of the phenomenon, this paper discusses a specific experience: social benefit-cost analysis for investment choice in the World Bank. The analysis may be useful both to the social scientists who do policy research and to the practitioners who might make more use of it.