Is governance reform a catalyst for development?

• 成果类型: Article; Proceedings Paper
• 署名作者: Goldsmith, Arthur A.
• 署名单位: University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Boston
• 刊物名称: GOVERNANCE-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLICY ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0952-1895
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2007.00352.x
• 发表日期: 2007
• 关键词: institutions

摘要

International development agencies contend developing countries can boost rates Of economic growth by introducing good governance measures. However, close analysis of specific governance reforms and economic turning points in the United States (when it was a developing country), Argentina, Mauritius, and Jamaica suggests that the agencies underestimate the time and political effort required to change governance, and overestimate the economic impact. Counter to optimistic claims about how much institutions matter, these carefully selected cases imply that greater transparency, accountability, and participation are often a result, rather than a direct cause of faster development. Furthermore, they show that closed institutions may be a satisfactory platform for rapid growth, provided those institutions open over time. Policymakers need to understand these processes better before counting on governance reforms to be the springboard out of poverty for most developing countries today.