Person: Anderson, James Horton
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Anderson, James Horton, Anderson, James H., Anderson, James, Anderson, J. H., Anderson, J., Anderson, Jim
Fields of Specialization
Governance, Anticorruption, Transition countries, Informal sector, Mongolia, Vietnam, Judicial Reform, Transparency, Human rights, Insitutions
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Last updated:March 25, 2025
Biography
James Anderson (Jim) is a Lead Public Sector Specialist for the Governance Global Practice in the East Asia and Pacific region. Jim started his career as a development economist in Mongolia where he lived from 1993 through 1997, researching institutional reform, the informal sector, and the impacts of large-scale privatization. In 1997, Jim took his interest in institutions and empirical tools and began to apply them to governance challenges, notably corruption and judicial reform, in the transition countries of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He moved to Vietnam in 2008 and focused his attention on access to information, transparency, anticorruption, and human rights. Jim served as the Country Manager for Mongolia from 2014 through August 2018, and serves as Global Lead on Anticorruption since 2020. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland and did his undergraduate studies at UMBC.
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Publication Which Data Do Economists Use to Study Corruption? A Cross-Section of Corruption Research(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-25) Anderson, James H.; Baidya, AkankshaThis paper examines the data sources and methodologies used in economic research on corruption by analyzing 339 journal articles published in 2022 that include Journal of Economic Literature codes. The paper identifies the most commonly used data types, sources, and geographical foci, as well as whether studies primarily investigate the causes or consequences of corruption. Cross-country composite indicators remain the dominant measure, while single country studies more frequently utilize administrative data. Articles in ranked journals are more likely to employ administrative and experimental data and focus on the causes of corruption. The broader dataset of 882 articles highlights the significant academic interest in corruption across disciplines, particularly in political science and public policy. The findings raise concerns about the limited use of novel data sources and the relative neglect of research on the causes of corruption, underscoring the need for a more integrated approach within the field of economics.Publication Growing Resilience: Unlocking the Potential of Nature-based Solutions for Climate Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-14) Collins, N.; van Zanten, B.; Onah, I.; Marsters, L.; Jungman, L.; Hunter, R.; von Turkovich, N.; Anderson, J.; Vidad, G.; Gartner, T.; Jongmanrtner, B.This report aims to identify strategic actions to increase investment in NBS for climate resilience in SSA by evaluating over a decade of NBS project investment and assessing a range of policy, financial, institutional, social, and technical barriers to adoption. We examined historical and projected data for climate hazards in the region to provide background on the challenges SSA faces. To establish a baseline of the status of NBS in the region and evaluate the types of projects being implemented, this report presents an inventory of NBS projects from across the region that were initiated between 2012 and 2023. In addition, we conducted over 50 interviews with project developers, funders, and investors of NBS projects in SSA to gain insights on the key barriers to NBS project investment and implementation. This report synthesizes results from the analysis and interviews to offer targeted recommendations for how actors such as governments and multilateral organizations can effectively scale up NBS in the region.Publication Reaching the Potential for the Digital Economy in Africa: Digital Tools for Better Governance(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-28) Alcaide, Maria Delfina; Anderson, James; Kramer, Michael; LaCascia, Hunt; Mells, Travis; Valentine, Justin; La Cascia, Joseph HuntingtonThat digital technologies can be tools for better governance is widely accepted - the degree to which they can meet their potential in Africa in the near future is an open question. Are the countries in Africa caught in a trap with digital progress limited by the very governance problems that such technologies could address? Or have they already progressed with large leaps forward? What are the factors that limit progress from being even faster? This study examines the progress and challenges in establishing the analog foundations for the use of digital technologies for better governance in Africa, and the degree of implementation of those GovTech tools. It covers the use of digital tools for providing information to the public, for streamlining the provision of government services including those related to taxation and business and land registration, courts and one-stop shops, digital identification systems, and interoperability between systems. The report similarly covers the use of digital tools for strengthening participation in policy making, accountability systems including grievance redress, and control of corruption. Finally, the report examines the adoption of electronic government procurement (eGP), as well as the procurement of IT systems by governments. The report concludes with recommendations for reaching the potential for the use of digital tools for better governance in Africa.Publication Sunshine Works : Comment on "The Adverse Effects of Sunshine: A Field Experiment on Legislative Transparency in an Authoritarian Assembly"(World Bank, Washington, Dc, 2013-09) Anderson, James H.Transparency -- sunshine -- is often touted as a core element of the governance agenda, and one that is most important in environments with low transparency to begin with. In a provocative paper published in the American Political Science Review, Edmund Malesky, Paul Schuler, and Anh Tran present the results of a creative experiment in which they provided an additional spotlight on the activities of a random sample of delegates to Vietnam's National Assembly. They report that the effect of sunshine was negative, that delegates subject to this treatment curtailed their speech, and that those who spoke most critically were punished through the subsequent election and promotion processes. The present paper argues that Malesky, Schuler, and Tran's results, if interpreted correctly, actually predict a net positive effect of transparency. The differences in interpretation stem primarily from three sources: the interpretation of regression results for models with interaction terms, the interpretation of the variable for Internet penetration, and significant pre-treatment differences between treated and control delegates. For the context in which more than 80 percent of delegates operate, Malesky, Schuler, and Tran's results predict a positive but insignificant effect of transparency. In addition, Internet penetration, itself a measure of access to information, is positively associated with critical speech. The paper draws lessons for the design and interpretation of randomized experiments with interaction effects.Publication Anticorruption in Transition 3 : Who is Succeeding... and Why?(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006) Gray, Cheryl W.; Anderson, James H.There is no room for complacency, however. Corruption is not falling in all countries or all sectors, and even the most successful reformers still tend to have higher levels of firm-level corruption than in Western Europe. The burden weighs most heavily on the new private firms that are the engine of growth and employment in the region. And even in countries that are showing success, the gains are not irreversible. Leaders need to continue to open their economic and political systems to greater competition, foster transparency and accountability in the public sector, and reduce administrative and regulatory burdens for firms.Publication Buildings Market Institutions in South Eastern Europe : Comparative Prospects for Investment and Private Sector Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004) Broadman, Harry G.; Anderson, James; Claessens, Constantijn A.; Ryterman, Randi; Slavova, Stefka; Vagliasindi, Maria; Vincelette, Gallina A.This report studies impediments to investment and private sector development in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro. It aims to yield fundamentally new insights for improving the region's business environment, economic development, and prospects for growth. It focuses on four core topics: 1) Business competition and economic barriers to entry and exit; 2) Access to regulated utilities and services; 3) Corporate ownership, transparency of business accounts, and access to finance; and 4) Mechanisms for commercial dispute resolution. Each topic is empirically investigated across all eight South Eastern European countries through the systematic use of data from multiple sources: Official data from each country in the region; results from two annual rounds of quantitative, firm-level surveys covering 1,600 firms; and results from 40 originally developed enterprise-level business case studies. The result is an innovative analysis of cross-country comparisons and the development of key policy challenges from a regional perspective. The report ends by making concrete recommendations for reforms that would ease the constraints on domestic and foreign investment, an essential step in sustaining growth and reducing poverty in the region.Publication Judicial Systems in Transition Economies : Assessing the Past, Looking to the Future(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005) Bernstein, Daivd S.; Anderson, James H.; Gray, Cheryl W.The report examines how courts have performed, and reveals their impact on public opinion and the business environment. It provides insight into linkages among reforms as well as linkages between reforms and public demand for a fair judiciary. The authors show that while each country presents different challenges and opportunities, certain lessons apply in most settings. Their insights and data would be useful to policy makers, judicial personnel, and those involved in reforming judiciaries.Publication Institutional Reform for Investment and Growth in South Eastern Europe(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003) Broadman, Harry; Anderson, Jim; Claessens, Stijn; Ryterman, Randi; Slavova, Stefka; Vagliasindi, Maria; Vincelette, GallinaThis study analyses the institutional impediments to investment and growth in SEE and suggests ‘second generation’ policy reforms to ease these constraints. Chapter one reviews the recent trends in the economies of the eight countries that comprise the region (SEE8) and their prospects for international and intra-regional integration. It conveys the message that a favorable institutional framework for domestic and foreign investment is essential to achieve sustainable growth in SEE. The chapter presents the scope, methodology, and the approach the study undertakes for assessing the role of key market institutions in SEE business development. The analysis utilizes not only traditional, official data from the eight countries to assess the characteristics, trends and relationships between these institutions, but also employs data from a set of 40 original enterprise-level business case studies carried out in each of the eight countries and the two rounds of the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) conducted in 1999 and 2002. The study focuses on four institutions that relate fundamentally to the efficient operation of market incentives in an economy: (i) inter-enterprise competition and economic barriers to entry/exit, (ii) access to (regulated) utilities and infrastructure services, (iii) corporate governance, financial transparency and access to finance, and (iv) commercial dispute resolution. The methodological tools employed in the analysis investigate these institutions systematically across the eight SEE countries to allow for cross-country and cross-sectoral comparisons, and to develop a regional as well as a country-specific perspective on corresponding policy challenges. Chapter two presents an overview assessment of each of the four core issues of this study. It reviews in the aggregate the business environment in the eight countries, based on BEEPS (1 and 2) and the EBRD transition indicators. The remaining sections of this overview present a summary of the main findings of each of the four core chapters of the study: competition, regulated infrastructure utilities, corporate governance and finance, and commercial dispute resolution.