Disclaimer
This is a personal blog, while also I am disclosing that for a long time I worked at the World Bank, and being passionate about development. I am a proud citizen of an emerging economy, Chile. I also care a lot about sports, opera and art, so from time to time there will be some personal postings not directly touching on traditional governance issues.
When I write a post or a page, the views expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect those of other individuals or of a particular institution. Other bloggers may contribute as well here, and links to articles by other authors will be provided. This is done in the spirit of transparent and participatory debate, and to share knowledge bringing a variety of perspectives. Of course, debate means that my own views may not coincide with contributions by others. Thus, posting contributions from others does not signify endorsement of their views. Likewise, I may not necessarily agree with the views of materials in links reached from this blog.
On the important issue of data and indicators, noting the obvious: I strongly believe that governance is subject to measurement, and that an empirical approach to study governance, human rights, transparency and corruption is paramount to draw lessons and engage in evidence-driven policy analysis and advise. Yet all such data needs to be interpreted with caution. Any indicator on governance or investment climate is subject to margins of error, which needs to be made explicit. Citation and use of any of these governance indicators in this blog does not necessarily imply official policy utilization of such data by any organization.
Importantly, also giving credit where it is due: much of the work I have done over the years, and continue to do, reflects longstanding collaboration with many colleagues at the World Bank and also outside, such as Aart Kraay, Joel Hellman, Massimo Mastruzzi, Edouard Al-Dahdah, Ana Bellver, Pedro Vicente, Francesca Recanatini, Randi Ryterman and Sanjay Pradhan, as well as others who deserve to share the credit for the materials you may find of some use here. [See Update at the end, since currently I am at the Brookings Institution].
Of course, I remain fully responsible for the bads, for my own views, and for my mistakes. And talking about mistakes, please bear with me if from time to time you get a broken link or other tech nuisance in this blog (feedback appreciated), since this personal blog obviously is not being supported by an institutional IT team.
Update as of December, 2008. I am now moving on from the World Bank, to become a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. As I know start at Brookings, The responsibility I take in my blog space here for my own postings and mistakes still applies, of course.