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In 1995/96, 47.5 percent of the population of Bangladesh were still living below the poverty line. This paper argues that the persistence of poverty in Bangladesh originates less in the lack of resources than in the failures of governance. These...

Why is corruption - defined here as the misuse of public office for private gain - perceived to be more widespread in some countries than others? Different theories associate cross-national variation in the extent of corruption with particular...

The author reviews the overwhelming statistical evidence that countries with high levels of corruption experience poor economic performance. Corruption hinders economic development by reducing domestic investment, discouraging foreign direct...

Corruption ranks, together with effective democratic representation, as the most important problem facing local governments. The challenge facing local governments is to develop innovative ways of building effective, accountable, and transparent...

The movement toward decentralization is gathering momentum. In this context, the important costs of corruption are being explicitly recognised, as is the urgent need to prevent corruption, raise city revenues, improve service delivery, stimulate...

Corruption is problematic when policies encourage it and institutional controls are weak. Diagnosing corruption, and understanding its causes and consequences, allows countries to overcome their policy and institutional weaknesses and implement...

Data that can be used to inform policy decisions are typically scarce in low-income countries, where standard policy prescriptions are less likely to apply. But if strategically designed, a survey can help induce policy change by pointing directly to...

The 1999 Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) assesses in detail the various dimensions of governance from the perspective of about 3000 firms in 20 countries. After introducing the survey framework and measurement approach...

Increasing awareness of the importance of governance has been accompanied by an increase in the number of commercial firms and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) producing broad indicators of the quality of governance and public institutions. First...

Improved governance requires an integrated, long-term strategy built upon cooperation between government and citizens. It involves both participation and institutions. The Rule of Law, Accountability, and Transparency are technical and legal issues...