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The Quality of Government
Rafael La Porta,Rafael La Porta,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Andrei Shleifer,Andrei Shleifer,Robert W. Vishny,Robert W. Vishny +7 more
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TLDR
This paper investigated empirically the determinants of the quality of governments in a large cross-section of countries and found that countries that are poor, close to the equator, ethnolinguistically heterogeneous, use French or socialist laws, or have high proportions of Catholics or Muslims exhibit inferior government performance.Abstract:
We investigate empirically the determinants of the quality of governments in a large cross-section of countries. We assess government performance using measures of government intervention, public sector efficiency, public good provision, size of government, and political freedom. We find that countries that are poor, close to the equator, ethnolinguistically heterogeneous, use French or socialist laws, or have high proportions of Catholics or Muslims exhibit inferior government performance. We also find that the larger governments tend to be the better performing ones. The importance of historical factors in explaining the variation in government performance across countries sheds light on the economic, political, and cultural theories of institutions.read more
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Law, Finance, and Economic Growth in China
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors examined three sectors of the economy: the State Sector (state-owned firms), the Listed Sector (publicly listed firms), and the Private Sector (all other firms with various types of private and local government ownership).
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Politically Connected Firms
TL;DR: In this article, an examination of firms in 47 countries showed a widespread overlap of controlling shareholders and top officers who are connected with national parliaments or governments, particularly in countries with higher levels of corruption, with barriers to foreign investment, and with more transparent systems.
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The Great Reversals: The Politics of Financial Development in the 20th Century
Raghuram G. Rajan,Raghuram G. Rajan,Raghuram G. Rajan,Luigi Zingales,Luigi Zingales,Luigi Zingales +5 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an interest group theory of financial development where incumbents oppose financial development because it breeds competition, and the theory predicts that incumbents' opposition will be weaker when an economy allows both cross-border trade and capital flows.
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Who Trusts Others
TL;DR: The authors found that the strongest factors associated with low trust are: i) a recent history of traumatic experiences; ii) belonging to a group that historically felt discriminated against, such as minorities (blacks in particular) and women; iii) being economically unsuccessful in terms of income and education; iv) living in a racially mixed community and/or in one with a high degree of income disparity.
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Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market
Atif Mian,Asim Ijaz Khwaja +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the extent, nature, and economic costs of political rent provision in government banks and found that political firms borrow twice as much and have 50% higher default rates.