The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., has received a $1 million gift from James D. Wolfensohn, the outgoing president of the World Bank, to support the creation of a $10 million policy center with an emphasis on global development.

The new center is part of Brookings's Poverty and Global Economy Initiative, which uses innovative policy-relevant research to examine the benefits and risks of the global economy, address the challenges of global poverty, and assess the management and governance of global economic structures. Slated to open in 2006, the center will bring together scholars across the disciplines of international economics, governance, international relations, economic development, law, security studies, and environmental science to address the complex, interrelated issues within economic development.

"I am impressed by the possibilities for new research in this area," said Wolfensohn, a member of the institution's board of trustees since 1983. "That research will focus on the changing balance of our world resulting from the strong demographic growth in developing countries as compared with the stagnation and aging of the populations of developed countries. These trends will lead to new challenges for youth and for scaling-up approaches to poverty alleviation that must be more effective and sustainable over time. Brookings is an ideal institution to take on this work."