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Showing papers by "Rafael La Porta published in 2012"

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Letter Grading Government Efficiency

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Alberto Chong1, Rafael La Porta2, Rafael La Porta3, Florencio Lopez de Silanes4, Florencio Lopez de Silanes3, Andrei Shleifer5, Andrei Shleifer3 •
University of Ottawa1, Dartmouth College2, National Bureau of Economic Research3, Skema Business School4, Harvard University5
01 Aug 2012-Social Science Research Network
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors sent letters to non-existent business addresses in 159 countries (10 per country) and measured whether they come back to the return address in the US and how long it takes.
Abstract: We mailed letters to non-existent business addresses in 159 countries (10 per country), and measured whether they come back to the return address in the US and how long it takes. About 60% of the letters were returned, taking over 6 months, on average. The results provide new objective indicators of government efficiency across countries, based on a simple and universal service, and allow us to shed light on its determinants. The evidence suggests that both technology and management quality influence the quality of government.

5 citations