The focus of this paper is on improving governance through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the delivery of services to the poor, i.e., improving efficiency, accountability, and transparency, and reducing bribery. A number of papers recognize the potential benefits...

How much would output increase if underdeveloped economies were to increase their levels of schooling? We contribute to the development accounting literature by describing a non-parametric upper bound on the increase in output that can be generated by more levels of schooling. The advantage of...

Governance is one of the key factors that shape the economic performance of an economy in terms of economic and trade growth. However, accurately measuring the quality of governance is not an easy task. Research typically uses governance indicators from surveys, which may have biases and...

Recent years have seen the emergence of a considerable volume of literature on governance and its role in economic and social development of a country. This paper provides a critical review of the literature. This review brings into the open a number of serious conceptual, measurement, and data...

"For United States annual data that include World War II, the estimated multiplier for temporary defense spending is 0.4–0.5 contemporaneously and 0.6-0.7 over 2 years. If the change in defense spending is "permanent" (gauged by Ramey's defense-news variable), the multipliers are higher by...

Efficiency and equity are cornerstone concepts in rational service delivery in the public sector. This paper benchmarks efficiency and equity in public spending on health, education and social protection in a broad group of Asian Development Bank (ADB) member economies with varying levels of...

Past governments in Myanmar presided over a system generally characterized by weak fiscal management, but this has recently changed with the present government restoring a measure of fiscal discipline, reorienting fiscal priorities, and establishing a clear set of fiscal objectives in the...

Can a government credibly promise not to bailout firms whose failure would have major negative systemic consequences? Our analysis of the Republic of Korea's 1997–1999 crisis, suggests an answer: No. Despite a general "no bailout" policy during the crisis, the largest Korean corporate groups...

This paper assesses the effects of fiscal policy on both equity and growth, specifically whether it is possible to design fiscal spending so that it enhances equity without sacrificing economic growth and vice versa. A cross-country panel vector autoregression (PVAR) using the World Development...

In this paper we empirically explore the relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth in developing Asia. The region's overall level of taxes and government spending are substantially lower than those prevailing in advanced economies. Nevertheless, there are conceptual grounds why...