Ugandan firms typically have to pay bribes when dealing with public officials whose actions directly affect the firms' business operations. How much? The more a firm can pay, the more it has to pay.Svensson exploits a unique data set on corruption containing information about estimated bribe...

Evidence from Uganda confirms that corruption retards development even more than taxation does.Exploiting a unique data set containing information about the estimated bribe payments of Ugandan firms, Fisman and Svensson study the relationship between bribe payments, taxes, and firm growth in...

While macroeconomic reforms are necessary, firms' investment response is likely to remain limited without an accompanying improvement in public sector performance.Investment rates in Uganda are similar to others in Africa - averaging slightly more than 10 percent annually, with a median value of...

Evidence from Uganda shows that poor public provision of infrastructure services - proxied by an unreliable and inadequate power supply - significantly reduces productive private investment.Lack of private investment is a serious policy problem in many developing countries, especially in Africa....

Reinikka and Svensson exploit an unusual policy experiment to evaluate the effects of increased public access to information as a tool to reduce capture and corruption of public funds. In the late 1990s, the Ugandan government initiated a newspaper campaign to boost schools' and parents' ability...

A few political economy variables can successfully predict the outcome of an adjustment loan 75 percent of the time. To select promising candidates for adjustment, the World Bank must do a better job of understanding which environments are promising for reform and which are not. Being more...

Reinikka and Svensson exploit a unique micro-level data set on primary health care facilities in Uganda to address the question: What motivates religious not-for-profit (RNP) health care providers? The authors use two approaches to identify whether an altruistic (religious) effect exists in the...

This paper analyzes the importance of strengthening the relationship of accountability between health service providers and citizens for improving access to and quality of health care. How this is to be achieved, and whether it works, however, remain open questions. The paper presents a...

This report presents findings from a baseline survey of 155 primary health care facilities (dispensaries, with and without maternity units) that was carried out in Uganda in the latter part of 2000. By collecting data both from the dispensaries and from local governments, it was possible to...

Reinikka and Svensson demonstrate that, with appropriate survey methods and interview techniques, it is possible to collect quantitative micro-level data on corruption. Public expenditure tracking surveys, service provider surveys, and enterprise surveys are highlighted with several...