This paper contributes to the decentralisation and distributive politics literature by empirically investigating the determinants of public expenditure at the sub-national level in Bangladesh. We argue that fragmentation in a unitary developing country may not channel higher resources to local...

The population of most of the countries of the world has been ageing. This unprecedented demographic change has already transformed many societies. The ageing process is expected to accelerate in the near future, particularly in developing countries. The problem of population aging would be more...

This paper studies the distributive impact of institutional change in developing countries. In such economies, property rights systems may preserve the interests of an influential minority, who can control key-markets, access to assets and investment opportunities, especially if they enjoy...

The increasing realisation that governance quality is a fundamental element of long-run development has led to its consideration as a desirable development goal in its own right. To contribute to such a process, this article provides a framework to set, measure and monitor governance goals in...

Using aggregate indices of education, health, demographic, and gender equality outcomes, we empirically investigate the hypothesis that Bangladesh achieved a higher level of social development compared with countries of similar level of per capita income. Stylized facts and cross-country...

As the gains of Bangladesh from low-cost solutions are reaped, this analysis warns that further progress may increasingly depend on higher public social spending and an improvement in service delivery systems. Further, reductions in child and maternal mortality will require more expensive...

Is Bangladesh's development progress surprising, given its level of economic development? Using aggregate indices of education, health, demographic and gender equality outcomes, we empirically investigate the hypothesis that Bangladesh made exceptional gains in human development compared with...

This paper offers an overview of the strengths and limitations in current empirical research on the measurement of state capacity. The paper also surveys the fast emerging literature on the determinants and effects of state capacity. We argue that existing measures on governance quality used in...

While several studies have focused on the effect of natural resources on economic development, less attention has been paid to their effects on other development outcomes. We contribute to this literature by studying the impact of resource rents on fiscal capacity, i.e., the ability of states to...