Kaufmann, DanielKraay, AartMastruzzi, Massimo2012-06-052012-06-052007-03https://hdl.handle.net/10986/7203The Worldwide Governance Indicators, reporting estimates of six dimensions of governance for over 200 countries between 1996 and 2005, have become widely used among policymakers and academics. They have also attracted some explicit written criticisms. In this short paper the authors synthesize 11 critiques offered by four recent papers. They then refute them as either conceptually incorrect or empirically unsubstantiated.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTABILITYADMINISTRATIVE CORRUPTIONAGGREGATE GOVERNANCEAGGREGATE GOVERNANCE INDICATORAGGREGATE GOVERNANCE INDICATORSAGGREGATE INDICATORAGGREGATE INDICATORSAGGREGATION METHODAGGREGATION METHODOLOGYAUTOCORRELATIONAVERAGE RESPONSESBIASESCAUSAL EFFECTCHOICE OF UNITS FOR GOVERNANCECOMMERCIAL RISK RATING AGENCIESCOMPARISONS ACROSS COUNTRIESCOMPARISONS OF GOVERNANCECONFIDENCE INTERVALSCONTROL OF CORRUPTIONCORRELATIONSCORRUPTIONCORRUPTION INDICATORCORRUPTION PERCEPTIONSCOUNTRY COVERAGECOUNTRY RATINGCOUNTRY RISK GUIDEDIMENSIONS OF GOVERNANCEDISCLOSUREDOMESTIC FIRMSECONOMIC PERFORMANCEEXCHANGE OF IDEASFOREIGN INVESTORSGOOD GOVERNANCEGOVERNANCE DATAGOVERNANCE DIAGNOSTICSGOVERNANCE ESTIMATESGOVERNANCE INDICATORGOVERNANCE PERCEPTIONSGOVERNANCE RATINGGOVERNANCE RATINGSGOVERNMENT EFFECTIVENESSGROWTH RATESHUMAN RIGHTSINVESTMENT CLIMATEJUDICIAL CORRUPTIONJUDICIARYLEVELS OF GOVERNANCEMEASURE OF GOVERNANCEMEASUREMENT ERRORMEASUREMENT ERROR IN GOVERNANCEMEASUREMENT ERRORSMEASURING GOVERNANCEMEDIAMOTIVATIONSMULTILATERAL ORGANIZATIONSNATIONSNOTIONS OF GOVERNANCEPER CAPITA INCOMESPETTY CORRUPTIONPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL RISKPRECISIONPROCUREMENTPUBLIC SECTORQUALITY OF GOVERNANCEQUALITY OF GOVERNANCE ACROSS COUNTRIESRISK RATING AGENCIESRULE OF LAWSIGNIFICANCE LEVELSTANDARD DEVIATIONTAXATIONTRANSPARENCYVALIDITYWORLDWIDE GOVERNANCE INDICATORSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4149