We examine the impact of institutional quality and social capital on aid effectiveness. We find strong evidence that social capital and institutions enhance aid effectiveness. Moreover, once we account for the role of social capital and institutions, the impact of policies tend to disappear....

Using cross-sectional time series data from a large group of African countries, we examine the effects of income, institutions and social capital - with emphasis on the latter - on literacy and life expectancy. The empirical results confirm that income has a positive contribution. We also show...

Using cross-sectional time series data, we examine the effects of income, institutions and social capital on literacy and life expectancy. An improvement in institutions has positive influence on literacy but does not seem to affect life expectancy. In addition, countries with high income may...

Institutional improvement can be a very slow and uncertain process when institutional quality is weak. In the meantime, countries have launched far-reaching economic reforms whose success is predicated on a large investment response. However, the uncertainties attending institutional reform can...

This paper examines the impact of trade and political institutions on environmental quality in Africa and explores whether political institutions matter to the trade-environment relationship. We use data from a large group of African countries, covering the period 1990-2008 and two indicators of...