Revamping Aviation Security: Non-terrorist Delta Flight 59 Exposes Ongoing Risks
By Kaufmann | February 8, 2010 | No Comments »
In a previous entry critical of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) new profiling guidelines in the aftermath of the Christmas Day attempted terrorist attempt, I suggested that instead of focusing on nationality as a profiling devise for travel screening, a different and multi-pronged strategy may prove more effective. It would entail shifting away from national identity toward a focus on the individual traveler—reviewing their passports and visas, observing their behavior, and making effective use of a well-integrated background database of individuals of concern. (here)Topics: Rule of Law, Transparency | Read and Submit Comments
Regulatory Capture outside of Finance: NHTSA not just asleep at the Toyota wheel?
By Kaufmann | February 5, 2010 | No Comments »
Plenty has been written on the role of financial institutions in the global crisis, and also in how they may have influenced their own generous rescue by the government. Many writings also touch on the ineffective role of the financial regulatory institutions. Some of the writings, including in this space, have suggested that such financial regulatory institutions may have been subject to some modality of (soft or hard) capture by the financial conglomerates themselves.
Elsewhere, some writings also looked at the less-than-fully successful results of the lobbying by the largest US car makers in bailing them out last year, contrasting the government’s largesse towards the banks — the Main vs. Wall St. divide in bailout treatment.
But there is a paucity of writings about whether there may be a parallel between the financial and auto industry regarding regulatory capture. For instance, the soft capture of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by the investment banks years ago has been discussed here repeatedly, and elsewhere.
But now the Toyota safety debacle should raise questions well beyond the conventional writings about Toyota’s ills due to their unbridled growth, sacrificing safety and transparency in the process. Let us keep in mind that other car makers are recalling cars, even their scope is less.
More importantly, where was the relevant regulator in all this, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)?…
Topics: Corruption, Public-Private Linkages, Rule of Law, Transparency, capture, financial crisis | Read and Submit Comments
Misrule of Law Matters: Time to Reboot?
By Kaufmann | January 21, 2010 | 2 Comments »
A full fledged reboot of the Rule of Law and the Law and Development fields may be salutary, and it may also improve aid effectiveness. I am not a legal scholar, but alongside many legal experts was invited to join a Symposium on the Future of Law and Development. Valuable contributions ensued, now published by the Northwestern Law Review website. Not for the first time I took advantage of being an ‘outsider’ to challenge orthodoxy. My own priors come from empirical analysis in economics and governance, combined with a selective reading of the literature and from practical observation as a practitioner in many countries.
In my brief paper contribution (here full version with charts), I start by reflecting upon three disparate circumstances, centuries and worlds apart, ranging from institutions presently in Kenya and the U.S. to those ruling the mighty seas hundreds of years ago…
Topics: Aid Effectiveness, Corruption, Measurement Frontiers, Public-Private Linkages, Rule of Law, capture, financial crisis | 2 Comments
Haiti: Rescue, Recovery, and Effective Development Aid
By Kaufmann | January 18, 2010 | 4 Comments »
We are pained about the death toll and human suffering in Haiti and we share their sorrow. With the exception of the tsunami in Asia, this tragedy is unprecedented in recent memory in a country not at war. Current technology makes the devastation and death instantly clear around the globe. Such technology also enables the outpouring of private financial contributions to charity (like the ease by which one can contribute by texting the number 90999 and typing “Haiti” to contribute to the Red Cross efforts in that country).
It is also clear what the immediate emergency rescue and relief needs are, such as water, food and medical treatment, and then some shelter and emergency power. While precious few days may have been lost at first, the international community is now rushing assistance to Haiti, and improved coordination efforts on the ground are beginning to show results. And we know that in recent times international donors have generally had a decent track record recently in emergency relief efforts when disaster strikes…
Topics: Aid Effectiveness, Corruption, Measurement Frontiers, Public Financial Management, Rule of Law, Transparency, Voice and Human Rights | 4 Comments
Will Profiling Make our Skies Safer?: A Governance Perspective on New TSA Guidelines
By Kaufmann | January 7, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Since profiling impinges on civil liberties, it bears a negative connotation particularly when narrowly based on nationality, race or religion. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has just instituted a nationality-based criterion, under which travelers from a list of 14 countries are subject to special airport screening procedures. Controversy has naturally ensued.
Topics: Aid Effectiveness, Corruption, Measurement Frontiers, Rule of Law, Voice and Human Rights | 1 Comment
Marian Anderson in Opera, Civil Liberties, and the end of another Decade
By Kaufmann | December 31, 2009 | No Comments »
Seventy years ago, the famous American singer Marian Anderson was barred from performing at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall in Washignton, DC, because of her race. As a result, Eleanor Roosevelt, then the US First Lady, resigned as a Board member from the DAR.
Instead, Anderson went on to perform an historic concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, attended by 75,000 people. She was also invited to sing in the White House. Eventually, the DAR changed its racist policy, and many years later Marian Anderson sang at the Constitution Hall.
Topics: Voice and Human Rights | Read and Submit Comments
On the changing ethos at Goldman Sachs (they showed up to this meeting)
By Kaufmann | December 16, 2009 | No Comments »
We know that key Wall Street investment bankers did not show up to this past Monday meeting called by President Obama. We just wrote about it. No such problem with no-shows in this other recent meeting held between the head of Goldman Sachs (Lloyd Blankfein, who was among those who did not make it to the White House meeting), and Goldman’s previous partners. Reporting on this well attended meeting, the New York Times reports about the evolution of the ethos at Goldman’s (here).
Topics: Corruption, Public-Private Linkages, capture, financial crisis | Read and Submit Comments
Chile ingresando a la OCDE: como ir al Mundial de Futbol?
By Kaufmann | December 15, 2009 | No Comments »
Es ya oficial ahora: Chile entrará a la OCDE, y pronto. Un gran reconocimiento y logro. Según la BBC, Chile festeja como un Mundial, ya que Andrés Velasco dice en París: “Es como clasificar para el Mundial, donde están los 32 mejores equipos. Aquí en la OCDE son 30 y con Chile vamos a ser 31, con la diferencia de que no clasificamos para el Mundial por una vez sino para siempre, porque esta es una membresía permanente”.
Topics: Corruption, G-20, Public Financial Management | Read and Submit Comments
Power shifting back from Washington to New York: Recapture of the State in the offing?
By Kaufmann | December 15, 2009 | No Comments »
Imagine you hold a very high position in the US Government, in Washington, DC. And you believe it is important to talk to the top Wall Street bankers, to nudge them to be more modest about their bonuses, and more generous about their lending. You call a meeting with these top bankers in Washington. The chief executive of JP Morgan shows up from New York for the high level meeting. But those from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup do not make the 200 mile trip. Their excuse: the weather (which was not too bad).
Who were these bankers supposed to meet with in person but did not show up?: President Obama. When?: …
Topics: Corruption, Measurement Frontiers, Public Financial Management, Public-Private Linkages, Transparency, capture, financial crisis | Read and Submit Comments
International Anti-Corruption Day 2009: An Hour of Silence to Reflect and Reboot
By Kaufmann | December 9, 2009 | 5 Comments »
As Wednesday, December 9th dawns, there is a dim reminder that one is supposed to ‘celebrate’ International Anti-Corruption. ‘Dim reminder’ to ‘celebrate’ in quotation marks indeed, because unfortunately anti-corruption continues to be largely in the back-burner for most world powers, for most international institutions, and for many of their leaders.
Or worse…
Topics: Aid Effectiveness, Corruption, Measurement Frontiers, Public Financial Management, Public-Private Linkages, Rule of Law, Transparency, Voice and Human Rights, capture, financial crisis | 5 Comments
Gobernabilidad e Ingreso de Chile a la OCDE
By Kaufmann | December 1, 2009 | No Comments »
Chile está por ingresar a la Organización para la Cooperación y Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE). Un gran logro. La OCDE decidirá formalmente en las próximas semanas, pero no quedan dudas al respecto.
Topics: Corruption, Public-Private Linkages, Rule of Law | Read and Submit Comments
Corruption Index today, Development Aid Reform tomorrow?
By Kaufmann | November 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Transparency International (TI), the international anti-corruption NGO, just released its annual corruption perceptions index (CPI). No big surprises. This is no surprise. Corruption does not tend to change dramatically from one year to the next. Yet it is certainly worth reviewing the new data.
Before so doing, a warning: governance indices (including those we are associated with) are not highly accurate. Therefore, precise rankings are misleading. There is a need to be transparent and precise about the extent of imprecision in each index, as well as the implications of such imprecision for comparisons across countries and over time…
Topics: Aid Effectiveness, Corruption, Measurement Frontiers, Public Financial Management, Rule of Law, Transparency, Voice and Human Rights | 3 Comments
Corrupción en el mundo de hoy según Transparencia Internacional
By Kaufmann | November 17, 2009 | No Comments »
Según el índice de corrupción anual de TI, o Transparencia Internacional, publicado hoy, Nueva Zelandia, Dinamarca, Singapur, Suecia, Suiza y Finlandia encabezan la lista de los países menos corruptos.
Topics: Corruption, Measurement Frontiers | Read and Submit Comments
Nobel Prize in Economics: illusions from Tinbergen to Keynes
By Kaufmann | October 13, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Almost everything we know about the Nobel Prize may be wrong. High time to address illusions. And indulge on another.
1. Was Tinbergen awarded the first Nobel Prize in Economics? No, strictly speaking. Because there is no such thing as a Nobel Prize in Economics. Alfred Nobel did not envisage it, or endow any. Instead, well over seventy years after Alfred Nobel passed away, a financial institution in Stockholm steps in, inaugurating the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (in memory of Alfred Nobel). In 1969, Jan Tinbergen, at age 66, becomes the first recipient of the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences, shared with Ragnar Frish…
Topics: Transparency, financial crisis | 3 Comments
G-20 Global Governance: better than their National Governance?
By Kaufmann | October 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Thanks for bearing with me during my recent blogging absence. I am now back, and posted this entry after the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit in the newly unveiled blog at Brookings, where I work.
The G-20 had just finished their third meeting, and there was a lot of buzz surrounding the demise of the G8 and it being replaced by the broader G-20. Accolades were also given to this Pittsburgh Summit on the progress of IMF and World Bank governance reforms and on climate change. But, I argued against the irrational exuberance by some pundits. Uncorking of the champagne would have been premature…
Topics: Aid Effectiveness, Corruption, G-20, Measurement Frontiers, Rule of Law, Voice and Human Rights, financial crisis | 1 Comment
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