GOOD GOVERNANCE IN BANGLADESH: A STUDY OF WORLD GOVERNANCE INDICATORS

The inclusive philosophy of good governance is almost indispensable for the progress of state democracy in Bangladesh. However, the Bangladesh government is fighting a malicious virus in the governance structure that is visible in all sectors of the state. Against this backdrop, an attempt has been made to comprehend the general state of good governance in Bangladesh according to World Governance Indicators (WGI) of the World Bank. This study is based on mixed approach containing quantitative data from World Bank website (world economy.com) and qualitative data from existing literatures. The collected data have also been analyzed through table, chart and text. This paper found, the current situation in Bangladesh is appalling and detrimental to the socio-economic development of the country. This situation is crisscrossed by overpopulation, politicization, bureaucratization, corruption, poverty, broken law and order, and the narrow game of politics. This paper then outlines some of the policy guidelines needed to define good governance principles in Bangladesh. The results of this study are expected to be useful for policymakers in devising appropriate strategies to ensure good governance at all levels of government.

Does it pay to Play by the Rules? Respect for Rule of law, Control of Corruption, and National Success at the Summer Olympics

Utilizing the set of World Governance Indicators published by the World Bank, this paper finds that scoring highly in an indicator measuring respect for rule of law and control of corruption is associated with fewer athletes disqualified and higher medal shares at the Summer Olympics from 1996–2016. Notable reductions in disqualifications and increases in medal shares occur at coincident percentile ranks in the aforementioned indicator, with nations at the 67th percentile rank and above having a 13.8% higher probability of medaling and a 12.11% lower probability of having an athlete disqualified. These results uncover a new link between governance and Olympic success and provide support for the existing anti-doping rules and enforcement as, ceteris paribus, it would seem that nations whose athletes respect and abide by the rules achieve higher medal shares than those whose athletes do not.

The role of governance in explaining the relationship between public social expenditure and economic growth An econometric study on the organization of Islamic Cooperation Countries (OIC) during the period 1996- 2016: دور الحوكمة في تفسير العلاقة بين الإنفاق الاجتماعي الحكومي والنمو الاقتصادي دراسة قياسية على بلدان منظمة التعاون الإسلامي خلال الفترة 1996- 2016

The paper aimed to study the impact of government social spending with its various components (education, health, social care) on economic growth in light of the role of governance indicators. It considered the OIC countries' experience during the 1996- 2016 period and estimated an econometric model using the "Generalized Moment Method" (GMM). The World Governance Indicators (WGI) have been used to proxy for the governance variable. The results showed that: (i) there is a negative impact of government spending on education and health in the OIC countries, and an unstable effect of spending on social transfers on economic growth; (ii) there is an interaction between government social spending on the one hand and governance on the other hand, and that the effectiveness of government social spending increases in Islamic countries with good governance indicator; and (iii) there is a positive effect of the six sub- governance indicators- except for the “voice and accountability” indicator on economic growth, and on the effectiveness of social spending on education and health on economic growth.

Stay at Home! Governance Quality and Effectiveness of Lockdown

In order to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first wave of the pandemic numerous countries decided to adopt lockdown policies. It had been a considerable time since such measures were last introduced, and the first time that they were implemented on such a global scale in a contemporary, information intensive society. The effectiveness of such measures may depend on how citizens perceive the capacity of government to set up and implement sound policies. Indeed, lockdown and confinement policies in general are binding measures that people are not used to, and which raise serious concerns among the population. For this reason governance quality could affect the perception of the benefits related to the government’s choice to impose lockdown, making citizens more inclined to accept it and restrict their movements. In the present paper we empirically investigate the relation between the efficacy of lockdown and governance quality (measured through World Governance Indicators). Our results suggest that countries with higher levels of government effectiveness, rule of law and regulatory quality reach better results in adopting lockdown measures.

Uma avaliação empírica do impacto das instituições no hard power

Os países com instituições e governança mais fortes levariam a menos ou mais hard power? Este artigo analisa empiricamente essa questão e corrobora a ideia de que países com instituições mais fortes e boa governança levam a um menor hard power, entendendo-se aqui que hard power é basicamente simbolizado pelo gasto militar. Para isso, utilizamos a base de dados do World Governance Indicators, do Banco Mundial, e do Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), para gastos militares, para um conjunto de 153 países. As estimativas apontam para essa relação com alguma robustez por meio de técnicas de variáveis instrumentais, identificando, por exemplo, que mais voice and accountability nos países levariam a menos gasto militar. Nos testes de robustez usando a técnica de cointegração, é corroborada a ideia de que mais democracia leva a menos hard power.Palavras-Chave: hard power; instituições; voice and accountability; mínimos quadrados ordinários; cointegração

Does corruption matter for FDI flows in the OECD? A gravity analysis

In this paper, the effect of corruption on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows is analyzed. The literature is thus far divided regarding the effects of corruption: One hypothesis argues that corruption greases the wheels of government and is therefore beneficial while the other hypothesis argues that it sands the wheels of government leading to suboptimal results in an economy. For the empirical analysis, a dataset consisting of bilateral FDI data from the OECD and the control of corruption measure from the World Governance Indicators of the World Bank is compiled. To further analyze the effects of corruption the Panama Papers revelation is used as a corruption increasing event and the implementation into law of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention is used as a corruption decreasing event. Finally, the difference between corruption levels in the target and the origin country, will be examined. Then, a gravity model with dyadic and time-fixed effects is employed to analyze the data. Findings are ambiguous in that corruption is positively correlated with FDI inflows in the target country and negatively correlated with FDI inflows in the origin country. The Panama Papers variable shows strong evidence, that the release of the Panama Papers resulted in a drop in FDI flows. Therefore, it seems that corruption has complex country specific effects and that target and source countries have to adopt varying policies with regards to corruption. The general effect of corruption harms FDI flows, as shown by the Panama Papers revelation.

QUALITY OF INSTITUTIONS IN CANDIDATE AND POTENTIAL CANDIDATE COUNTRIES COMPARED TO THE NEWEST EUROPEAN MEMBERS

This paper deals with the quality of institutions in two samples. The first sample consists of candidates and potential candidates for membership in the European Union - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and N. Macedonia, while the second sample consists of the youngest member states of the European Union - Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. In some of the earlier papers, as a co-author or author, I compared the countries of the region with the members of "New Europe", i.e. the countries that became members of the EU in 2004, but a glance look at the data today led me to the conclusion that the quality of the institutional environment in the region is more logical to compare with the newest EU members. Even in comparison with these countries, our region lags significantly behind. As a database for the quality of institutions, I used the World Governance Indicators developed by Kaufman et al. (2010). Institutions are defined as they were defined by Nobel laureate Douglas North and after him, a whole group of economists under the auspices of the New Institutional Economy.

Institutional Quality and Trade Flow: Empirical Evidence from Malaysia and Other OIC Member Countries in Africa

This article examines the impact of institutional quality on bilateral trade flow between Malaysia and selected 25 African Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries. Four institutional qualities were selected from World Governance Indicators with other trade predictors from the period from 1985 to 2016. Using gravity model of trade and Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimation method (PPML) technique, the results confirm that government effectiveness, regulatory quality and political stability have an adverse effect on bilateral trade flow among the OIC countries in Africa. On the other hand, these institutional quality variables were considered as a strength for Malaysian economic growth. Therefore, better institutional quality reforms are needed among OIC member countries in Africa in order to accelerate trade, economic growth and development in their region.

The Role of Institutions in the Discourse of Sustainable Development in West African Countries

There are few studies on the role of institutions in achieving sustainable development that infer that these institutions offer the mechanisms for resource and environmental management. Thus, twelve West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo) are covered in the study using data from World Development Indicators and World Governance Indicators. Six main outcome variables are used. These are CO2 emissions per capita, CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production, CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption, CO2 emissions from manufacturing and construction, total greenhouse gas emissions (kt of CO2 equivalent), and CO2 intensity. A two-step generalised method of moment (GMM) found that governance effectiveness and regulatory quality as curtails the rate of CO2 emissions. Policy implications are discussed.

Governance Indicators in the OIC Countries: A Descriptive Study for the Period 1996 – 2018

The study aims to describe and analyze the governance indicators in OIC countries during the 1996-2018 period based on the data of World Governance Indicators (WGI). The descriptive-analytical approach had been adopted for using statistical methods to analyze the level and evolution of governance indicators. The researcher relied on aggregated indicators of governance based on the six sub-indicators of WGI indicators and then classified the level of governance in the OIC countries into four levels. The study reaped a number of results, the most important of them are: i) In general, the level of the aggregate index of governance in the OIC is lower than the world average by 0.62 and 0.70 points in 1996 and 2018, respectively; ii) Most Islamic countries fall within the low level of governance, and there is no Islamic country in the first level of governance (very high); iii) the average of governance index in Islamic countries declined by (0.07) points between 1996 and 2018. The study recommended that Islamic countries shall adopt policies aiming at improving public governance and combating corruption, by taking advantage from the sub-indicators of governance. The researchers also recommended to develop indicators of governance that are compatible with the principles of the Islamic Law and that can be used by the OIC. Keywords: Governance indicators, Islamic countries, OIC countries, Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption.