While it is recognized that effective state institutions are pivotal for economic development, it is not well understood what their origins are and what explains their cross-country differences. We focus on budget institutions in developing economies, as efficient public finance planning in such...

There is a possibility that the development ministers of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will agree on a new definition of official development assistance (ODA) at the end of 2014. Ongoing discussions on this matter may appear purely "technical" at first glance....

Development cooperation is under pressure to change. The traditional aid model – a resource transfer from North to South – is outdated. There are only 36 low-income countries left in the world. Two-thirds of the poorest people live in middle-income countries. Eradicating poverty has become...

Since the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programs and subsequent World Bank and the IMF economic adjustment initiatives, there have been increasing concerns about their economic impacts in developing countries. The commonplace concern is that the Neo-liberal economic philosophies of...

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...

Corruption has fierce impacts on economic and societal development and is subject to a vast range of institutional, jurisdictional, societal and economic conditions. Research indicates that corruption's predominantly negative effects have arisen to a massive trans-border threat while creating...

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the relationship between public sector motivation and development. We analyze a simple two sectors model: a public and a private sector in which the returns are increasing in the quality of the public good produced by the public sector. The main...

Beginning in the 1990s, an institutional perspective on development has become increasingly prominent in development thinking, captured in the mantra, “Institutions Matter,” or “Governance Matters.” Based on the assumption that “institutions matter”, there has been a massive surge in...