Public Financial Management
« Previous EntriesTransparency in Natural Resources and Conflict Minerals: What We May Not Know About Dodd-Frank
Friday, December 9th, 2011The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is the very well known piece of legislation that intends to regulate the U.S. financial market. The debate over the act and its implementation continues and I have contributed to that discussion in previous postings. Yet, what is not so well known is how the Dodd-Frank [...]
Judge Rakoff Challenge to the S.E.C.: Can Regulatory Capture be Reversed?
Saturday, December 3rd, 2011Last Monday, Federal Judge Jed Rakoff issued a potentially precedent-setting challenge to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) when he rejected the $285 million settlement between the agency and Citigroup. The bank is charged with negligence related to its misleading sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities, which ultimately cost investors nearly $700 million but earned the [...]
Unexpected Earthquake in U.S. East Coast Spurs a Stock Market Rally?
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011A rare earthquake of magnitude 5.8 shook the East Coast of the US earlier today, affecting Washington, D.C., New York, their environs some environs, and Virginia. While an earthquake of this magnitude carries a minimal fraction of the force of the mega-earthquakes experienced by countries like Chile, Japan, Indonesia and Haiti in recent years, it did rattle buildings and nerves. And it raised [...]
Congress’ Dismal Performance Need Not Be the Case: A Governance Perspective
Friday, July 29th, 2011According to a Gallup nationwide poll ten years ago, 55 percent of citizens approved of the way Congress was handling its job. That was in March 2001, before the surge in solidarity that resulted in Congressional approval ratings of 70-80 percent following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. By mid-2002, the approval ratings were back to pre-9/11 [...]
Open Government Partnership: First Steps and the Road Ahead
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011“When a government hides its work from public view, hands out jobs and money to political cronies, administers unequal justice, looks away as corrupt bureaucrats and businessmen enrich themselves at the people’s expense, that government is failing its citizens,” stated U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the opening of the multi-country Open Government [...]
Amid Global Crises, Can Obama Make a Real Impact in Latin America?
Friday, March 18th, 2011President Obama’s tour of Latin America, including visits to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador, is starting this weekend. This visit is unlikely to constitute a historical watershed. It comes at a time when Obama faces three major crises— Libya’s ongoing civil conflict, Japan’s unfolding triple disaster, and the United States’ congressional impasse over the federal [...]
The Rescue of the Miners in Chile is no Miracle
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010It is well past 3 o’clock in the morning in Chile, and an hour earlier here in Washington, DC. As a Chilean I am proud, and relieved, to witness the ongoing rescue of the 33 miners, who have spent 69 days in captivity buried in a mine shaft 2,000 feet under the Atacama desert. As [...]
On Governance and Human Rights in China and Iran
Monday, October 11th, 2010So it goes: a few days ago the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Chinese dissident, in spite of the active lobbying by the authorities in China (including threats on dire consequences on their relations with Norway)…
Governance improves, goes into reverse, and fails: WGI and Governance Matters released
Friday, September 24th, 2010We are releasing the new version of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), covering 213 countries over the 1996-2009 period. All the data and resources ca be found at www.govindicators.org. It is accompanied by a new analytical report on the WGI, to be found here. prepared with my co-authors in this project, A. Kraay and M. Mastruzzi. And a synthesis [...]
On the state of Governance and the governance of States around the World: what will the WGI scorecard tell us?
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010In past writings we have emphasized the neglected link between good governance by wealthy and developing countries and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Lately such link is getting a bit more attention in the media, as it is being emphasized by stars like U2′s Bono and his own NGO, named ONE. Of course, [...]
Wall Street Financial Reform: Less than meets the eye on Financial Institutions, More than meets the eye on Oil Companies
Friday, July 16th, 2010The 2,500 page long Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform Bill has passed through the United States Senate. The bill will now be signed into law by President Barack Obama. It signals a halt to the deregulatory process that the U.S. financial system has experienced for almost fifteen years. The bill promises to strengthen consumer protection. In principle, [...]
Blowing the Vuvuzela on FIFA: Governance Reforms for Development
Friday, July 9th, 2010Sixty-two games have been played at the 2010 World Cup, which has been marvelously hosted by South Africa. Only two games remain; one tomorrow for third place, and then Sunday’s much awaited World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands. In a couple of days, we will have a brand new world soccer champion. But [...]
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be met unless governance improves
Friday, May 14th, 2010In 2000, the international community agreed on eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Among others, countries pledged to halve extreme poverty, achieve universal education, halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce child and maternal mortality rates by 2015. Ahead of the UN’s upcoming September 2010 Summit on the MDGs, countries and aid donors have begun [...]
Corruption and Fiscal Deficits in Rich Countries
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010Some of my research tends to challenge orthodoxy, such as taking issue with the claim that the developing ‘world’ is the corrupt one (contrasting wealthy nations); that corruption is largely about blatant bribery, and that corruption and macro-economic stability should be viewed separately from each other by different types of ‘experts’. I am committing the heresy of focusing on the link between corruption [...]
Wall Street Reform and Beyond
Friday, April 16th, 2010For years I have been arguing that regulatory and state capture is a major challenge in many countries, including in the US. I wrote papers, presented analysis and evidence, even argued the case to top executives at the World Economic Forum long ago. Yet I had limited success, other than getting some articles published in [...]
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