Public-Private Linkages
« Previous EntriesRegulatory Capture outside of Finance: NHTSA not just asleep at the Toyota wheel?
Friday, February 5th, 2010Plenty 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 [...]
Misrule of Law Matters: Time to Reboot?
Thursday, January 21st, 2010A 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 [...]
On the changing ethos at Goldman Sachs (they showed up to this meeting)
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009We 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 [...]
Power shifting back from Washington to New York: Recapture of the State in the offing?
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009Imagine 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. [...]
International Anti-Corruption Day 2009: An Hour of Silence to Reflect and Reboot
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 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…
Gobernabilidad e Ingreso de Chile a la OCDE
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009Chile 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.
Fighting Corruption when the World is Flat: from Namibia to China
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009Namibia is one of the countries in Africa that has been serious about governance. We see this in the latest Governance Indicators. Such commitment to good governance includes anti-corruption efforts.
Yet often it is hard to figure out where fighting corruption may lead to, in today’s globalized world. A large bribery case is being investigated in [...]
Indicadores Mundiales de Gobernabilidad 2009
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009Acabamos de salir a la luz con los Indicadores Mundiales de Gobernabilidad 2009, y con el nuevo reporte ‘Governance Matters’. El resumen en español, el reporte, y los datos estan aqui.
In French, here.
In Arabic, here.
In Japanese, here.
In Chinese (last year), here.
In Russian (last year), here.
In Português (last year), here.
For access to the most current Worldwide Governance [...]
Governance Matters 2009: Learning From Over a Decade of the Worldwide Governance Indicators
Monday, June 29th, 2009Today we are releasing the report Governance Matters VIII, which includes the new update of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). Now collaborating from the Brookings Institution, I continue to take part in this research project with my former World Bank colleagues Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi.
In the WGI we construct and measure six dimensions [...]
Captura del Estado y Corrupción Legal en los EEUU: Realidad o Ilusión?
Saturday, April 25th, 2009Hace más de una década comenzamos con mi ex-colega Joel Hellman el proyecto de investigación sobre ‘captura del estado’. Nos enfocamos en las economías de transición de aquellos tiempos, donde en países como Rusia y Ucrania los oligarcas eran tan poderosos que, con sobornos e influencia indebida, capturaban las leyes, regulaciones y políticas públicas [...]
Will showdown on Global Financial Regulation be averted at the G-20 Summit?
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009The stillness of the dark wee hours of Wednesday in London is already being disrupted by the news buzz of a likely showdown between the leaders of France and Germany, Sarkozy and Melkert, vs. Barack Obama of the US. This in the eve of the G-20 Summit here…
News Alert: Chile Discovered, UK Uncovered (on eve of G-20 Summit…)
Monday, March 30th, 2009 Unknown to many, another Summit has just concluded: the ‘Progressive Leaders’ (center-left) just met in Chile, hosted by her President, Michele Bachelet. It was also attended by the leaders of the UK, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Norway, and by the U.S. VP, Joe Biden.
In the press conference that Ms. Bachelet held jointly with [...]
On the Financial Crisis: Recommendations for the G-20 London Summit
Thursday, March 26th, 2009Leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) countries are meeting in London on April 2nd for their second summit on the global financial crisis. A new set of nine short articles is being released by Brookings now, written by many of my colleagues (I also contributed).
Topics include: macroeconomic stabilization, avoiding protectionism, funding to poor countries, reforming the IFIs, empowering the regional [...]
Mad Money, Legal Corruption, and the Financial Crisis: Cramer vs. Stewart in Comedy Central
Sunday, March 15th, 2009In this blog, and in my own research with colleagues, I have tried to bring up the serious problem of ‘legal corruption’ and ‘capture’, and also said that such legal corruption and regulatory capture did play a major role in the current financial crisis. As mentioned in my last blog entry on Obama, and in [...]
Obama, Capture, and the Financial Crisis
Monday, March 9th, 2009There is no ‘theory-independent’ way of viewing reality. We see and analyze world events through our own prism, shaped and tinted by upbringing, experiences, training and professional field of expertise. So it is not surprising that when it comes to the many explanations given for the current financial crisis, they differ greatly.
Among economists, a number extoll [...]