Publication: Helpful Governments
Abstract
Using data on firm perceptions of how helpful the government is for doing business, we find strong evidence for the theory of legal origins: common law fares better than civil law. Advantages of using firm perceptions are discussed in detail.
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Publication Public Spending and Outcomes: Does Governance Matter?(2008)This paper studies the links between public spending, governance, and outcomes. We examine the role of governance--measured by the level of corruption and the quality of bureaucracy--in determining the efficacy of public spending in improving human development outcomes. Our analysis contributes to our understanding of the relationship between public spending, governance and outcomes, and helps explain the surprising result that public spending often does not yield the expected improvement in outcomes. We show empirically that the differences in the efficacy of public spending can be largely explained by the quality of governance. Public health spending lowers child mortality rates more in countries with good governance. Similarly, public spending on primary education becomes more effective in increasing primary education attainment in countries with good governance. More generally, public spending has virtually no impact on health and education outcomes in poorly governed countries. These findings have important implications for enhancing the development effectiveness of public spending. The lessons are particularly relevant for developing countries, where public spending on education and health is relatively low, and the state of governance is often poor.Publication The State and International Development Management: Commentary from International Development Management Practitioners(2008)Poverty, instability, terrorism, and the emergence of new global actors characterize some of the central challenges facing twenty-first-century development and administration. Derick W. Brinkerhoff, a distinguished scholar in this field, delivered this Ferrel Heady Roundtable Lecture in 2007. He explores broadly the evolution of contemporary thinking concerning international development management. From his analysis, he draws thought-provoking clues regarding what works and what research questions remain to be answered. His central thesis: Lessons from past experience need to better inform current policy and practice. Five seasoned development administrators respond critically to Brinkerhoff's arguments, offering PAR readers an informative, insightful, and germane intellectual exchange.Publication The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Six, One, or None?(2010)Aggregate indexes of the quality of governance, covering large samples of countries, have become popular in comparative political analysis. Few studies examine the validity or reliability of these indexes. To partially fill this gap, this study uses factor, confirmatory factor and path analysis to test both measurement and causal models of the six Worldwide Governance indicators. They purportedly measure distinct concepts of control of corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness, rule quality, political stability, and voice and accountability. Rather than distinguishing among aspects of the quality of governance, we find that they appear to be measuring the same broad concept.Publication Response to 'What Do the Worldwide Governance Indicators Measure?'(2010)Thomas (2009) dismisses the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) as an 'elaborate and unsupported hypothesis' because of the failure to demonstrate the 'construct validity' of these indicators. We argue that 'construct validity' is not a useful tool to assess the merits of the WGI, and even if it were, Thomas provides no evidence of any practical consequences of failure to meet the criteria of construct validity.Publication What Firms Know(2010)The present paper contributes to the literature on legal origins by showing that the ease with which information on rules and regulations is available to firms is much better in common law compared with civil law countries.
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