Transparency
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Friday, July 16th, 2010
The 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, it [...]
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. [...]
Apology Letter to Maradona, or to the Soccer World?: Don’t cry for me Argentina
Sunday, July 4th, 2010 The 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:
“Dear Diego: It is high time that we critics say sorry, and thank you. We misjudged your appointment as coach. We believed that the 78-year-old president of Argentina’s soccer federation, had lost reason [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
Corruption and Fiscal Deficits in Rich Countries
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 Some 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’.
Right now I am committing the heresy of focusing on the [...]
Breaking the Cycle of Crime and Corruption (while questioning existence of the cycle)
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 The World Policy Journal asked for the views of a few of us on “How Can Nations Break the Cycle of Crime and Corruption?” I answered, in a just-published short piece, though I disagreed with the main premise behind such question: Crime and Corruption need not be inextricably linked, or party to a vicious cycle.
In [...]
Transparent Aid for Haiti’s Reconstruction: Capture Matters
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
On Wednesday, March 31, international donors are convening at the United Nations to discuss Haiti’s long-term reconstruction plans and to make assistance pledges. The publicly disseminated Action Plan for Reconstruction and National Development of Haiti, produced by the government of Haiti with inputs from the U.N., European Commission, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and civil [...]
What Happens in Cancun Shouldn’t Stay in Cancun: Toward Transparency at the Inter-American Development Bank
Friday, March 19th, 2010This weekend the Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB*) will hold its annual meetings in the popular Mexican resort city of Cancun. Much of the focus will be on the capital increase for the Bank, which made an original request for an increase that topped US$ 180 billion. Subsequent estimates of what the main shareholders may [...]
National Disasters Today Provide Governance Lessons
Monday, March 1st, 2010 Let us consider three countries:
Country 1: Its approach to industrialization has relied heavily on a very large public sector that accounts for well over 40 percent of GDP, and on aid financing from richer countries. The country has no fiscal discipline, running a deficit exceeding 13 percent of GDP. Rather, leaders have focused more [...]
State Capture by “Main Street”?: The Toyota Saga Accelerates
Thursday, February 11th, 2010A few days ago I argued that one ought not point a finger at Toyota alone for the ’sudden unintended acceleration’ (SUA) woes in their vehicles, and suggested that the problem also reflects the failure of the US Government regulatory agency (NHTSA) to do its job. At that time I provided incipient evidence that [...]
Revamping Aviation Security: Non-terrorist Delta Flight 59 Exposes Ongoing Risks
Monday, February 8th, 2010In 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 [...]
Regulatory 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 [...]
Haiti: Rescue, Recovery, and Effective Development Aid
Monday, January 18th, 2010We 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 [...]
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