Transparency
« Previous EntriesTransparency, Conflict Minerals and Natural Resources: Debating Sections 1502 and 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011With a focus on conflict minerals and natural resource transparency, Sections 1504 and 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Financial Reform Act are unrelated to the U.S. banking system. Yet they have stirred up controversy. As is often the case with provisions that aim at changing the rules of the game, Sections 1502 and 1504 [...]
Transparency 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 [...]
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 [...]
On the Triple Disaster in Japan: Governance and the Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crises
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011In light of the unprecedented triple disaster that has struck Japan, I contributed this Opinion article at Brookings with Veronika Penciakova (here). We discuss the governance failures in Japan that have exacerbated its nuclear crisis. Of particular concern is the extent of regulatory capture and failure in the nuclear industry, and the country’s lack of [...]
Tunisia, Egypt and Beyond: Fewer Predictions, More Data and Aid Reform Needed
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011Nobody predicted that the desperate act of a young Tunisian who set himself on fire in protest of government policies that had left him jobless and disenfranchised would ignite protests for democratic and economic reforms across the Middle East. Since this incident, Tunisia’s government has fallen and demonstrations have spread to Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Sudan [...]
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, [...]
Casting Light on the MDGs through better Governance and Less Corruption
Saturday, September 18th, 2010The lofty events of the 2010 United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are already underway in New York. A gala is taking place tomorrow evening, Sunday the 19th of September, at the luxurious Waldorf Astoria for the rich and famous to celebrate the MDG achievements and give awards in a celebrity-laden event. One [...]
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 [...]
Apology Letter to Maradona, or to the Soccer World?: Don’t cry for me Argentina
Sunday, July 4th, 2010The Letter, entitled ‘An Apology to Maradona, a Rolicking Genius’, was published just before yesterday’s World Cup game between Argentina and Germany. Excerpted, it reads:…
Will June 27 become ‘Instant Replay in Soccer’ Day?
Sunday, June 27th, 2010This day, June 27th, is important for both Britain and Argentina. Over 200 years ago, on this day in 1806, the British captured Buenos Aires. Today, June 27th, 2010, fortunes were reversed. Two crucial soccer games took place in the knockout stage of the World Cup. In the first, Germany sent England home 4-1, while [...]
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 [...]
Does Grease Money Speed Up the Wheels of Commerce?
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010Does bribery reduce bureaucratic red tape to an enterprise? That is a question that Shang-Jin Wei and I investigated in a research paper over a decade ago. The Economist writes about it in their current issue in an article called (following Moises Naim’s coining) ‘The Corruption Eruption’ , here, also citing the work of Wharton’s [...]
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 [...]
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