Case studies and anecdotal evidence have suggested that uncertainty about policies, laws, and regulations has hampered development of the private sector in many developing countries. The authors present results from a new cross-country survey that provides comparable data on local...

Economic theory and case study evidence have long suggested that institutional factors, such as well-defined property and contract rights, may be crucial in explaining differences in economic performance across countries. Much of the recent discussion about"governance"has, for example, focused...

The paper investigates determinants of civic participation in local budget processes in rural areas in the Kyrgyz Republic by using data from the Life in Kyrgyzstan survey, conducted in 2012. The analysis of the data suggests that although civic awareness and interest in local budget processes...

While the mainstream of economic development theory focuses on the efficiency of policy measures, the role of the credibility of these measures is rarely analyzed. In this paper we argue that in less developed countries the problem of establishing the credibility of policy measures is at least...

This note focuses on one of the factors common to Singapore's and Hong Kong's successful development: They both have an exceptionally good institutional framework for doing business. Data from a world-wide private enterprise survey are presented showing that local businessmen almost uniformly...

This paper argues that an unpredictable regulatory environment can be a major obstacle to the success of policy reforms. The case of Nicaragua is emblematic of the failure of reform events in LDCs because the economy was successfully stabilized but investment is insufficient to achieve...

This note critically reviews the research on the link between political systems and economic growth. Empirical attempts to capture this patent relationship have been met with mixed success. The authors conclude that the political variables used in these studies, i.e., democracy and political...