This paper draws on both successful and failing cases of industrialization in China to analyse the role of local governments in fostering the growth of light manufacturing. The broad spectrum of support types and the intimate knowledge of enterprise...
Following close to two decades of political distress and economic decline, Uganda embarked, in the mid 1980s, on far-reaching reforms under Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement. Decentralization was emphasized, with the new leaders...
Various studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between urban population levels and gross national income. As such the growth of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa may have a positive impact on the region’s economic...
In the WIDER Working Paper ‘Decentralized Service Delivery in Nairobi and Mombasa: Policies, politics and inter-governmental relations’ Winnie V. Mitullah assesses the major obstacles to providing critical services, such as solid waste management and...
Favouritism of government controlled councils is most distinct through interference in local politics rather than through funding mechanisms. The motivation of central government intervention in land deals is two-fold - their actions can be...
In Mozambique donors have shifted focus from project aid to budget support in an effort to reform the public sector and ‘justice, legality and public order’. While budget support has increased state capacity and helped Mozambique’s donor community...
Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
This paper exploits five waves of the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) to investigate issues of social and political capital in rural Vietnam. I analyse membership of the Communist Party, ‘mass organizations’ (Farmers’ Union...
Why are some countries more successful at carrying out post-conflict reconstruction programmes than others? Why has Sierra Leone been more successful in the reform of its armed forces than Liberia has after the end of the Mano River Basin wars? This...
Institution-building in Somalia has met with high levels of failure for two decades. But successes have occurred in other Somali-inhabited regions of the eastern Horn, and have been especially present at the local and municipal level. The most...
Part of Journal Special Issue Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa
Part of Journal Special Issue Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa
Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Part of Book Democratic Trajectories in Africa
Rachel M. Gisselquist Almost all major development institutions today say that promoting good governance is an important part of their agendas. The...
The paper presents a theoretical model that seeks to answer the question of why former squatter settlements tend to upgrade/redevelop at a slower pace than otherwise similar settlements originating in the formal sector. We argue that squatter...
There has long been an emphasis on the importance of decentralization in providing better quality public services in the developing world. In order to assess the effectiveness of decentralization I examine here the case study of Uganda, which has...
Part of Book Urbanization and Development
Part of Book Reforming Africa's Institutions
Part of Book Social Provision in Low-Income Countries
Part of Journal Special Issue Conflict and Peace-building
Rachel M. Gisselquist and Miguel Niño-Zarazúa Over the past decade, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have become a staple of research in...
Part of Book Linking the Formal and Informal Economy
Tony Addison This month saw the visit of Kaushik Basu, the World Bank’s new Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, to...
Measuring the effectiveness of local government in Ghana is hampered by incomplete records, but despite that there are still visible patterns, write...
Economic theory predicts that dishonesty thrives in secrecy. Yet, team-based decisions are ubiquitous in public policy-making. How does teamwork influence the tendency for self-dealings when public servants—both honest and corrupt—must work together...
In this paper, we estimate the efficiency of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana, and investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on the efficiency of local public goods and services delivery by MMDAs. Using data...
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