tailieunhanh - Governance Indicators: Where Are We, Where Should We Be Going?

Sometimes a burst of diversification is accompanied by dramatic morphologi - cal evolution—an event known as an adaptive radiation. When the ancestors of Darwin’s finches arrived on the Galápagos Islands a few million years ago, they did not simply evolve into 14 barely distinguishable species. They evolved dis- tinctive beaks and behaviors that allowed them to feed on cactuses, crack hard nuts, and even drink the blood of other birds. The Great Lakes of East Africa also saw an adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes. These enormous lakes are geologically very young, in many cases having formed in just the past few hundred thousand years. Once they formed,. | Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized WPS4370 Policy Research Working Paper 4370 Governance Indicators Where Are We Where Should We Be Going Daniel Kaufmann Aart Kraay The World Bank World Bank Institute Global Governance Group and Development Research Group Macroeconomics and Growth Team Policy Research Working Paper 4370 Abstract Scholars policymakers aid donors and aid recipients acknowledge the importance of good governance for development. This understanding has spurred an intense interest in more refined nuanced and policy-relevant indicators of governance. In this paper we review progress to date in the area of measuring governance using a simple framework of analysis focusing on two key questions i what do we measure and ii whose views do we rely on For the former question we distinguish between indicators measuring formal laws or rules on the books and indicators that measure the practical application or outcomes of these rules on the ground calling attention to the strengths and weaknesses of both types of indicators as well as the complementarities between them. For the latter question we distinguish between experts and survey respondents on whose views governance assessments are based again highlighting their advantages disadvantages and complementarities. We also review the merits of aggregate as opposed to individual governance indicators. We conclude with some simple principles to guide the refinement of existing governance indicators and the development of future indicators. We emphasize the need to transparently disclose and account for the margins of error in all indicators draw from a diversity of indicators and exploit complementarities among them submit all indicators to rigorous public and academic scrutiny and in light of the lessons of over a decade of existing indicators to be realistic in the expectations of future indicators. This paper a joint product of the Global Governance Group World Bank Institute and the .