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Credibility of rules and economic growth : evidence from a worldwide survey of the private sector

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Author Info
Brunnetti, Aymo
Kisunko, Gregory
Weder, Beatrice

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Abstract

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 on the role of corruption and its consequences for investment and growth. By comparison, the empirical literature relating institutional factors with growth has been relatively scarce and has mainly concentrated on crude proxies such as'political instability and macroeconomic volatility. The problem of most of these variables in that they inadequately capture the uncertainties that are relevant for entrepreneurs. The authors propose new measure of institutional uncertainty based on the subjunctive evaluations of entrepreneurs. They surveyed the private sector in a broad cross-section of countries. The survey was designed to capture institutional factors such as the predictability of rules, entrepreneurs'fears of policy surprises and reversal, their perception of safety and security of property, the reliability of the judiciary, and their problems with bureaucratic corruption. The authors construct and test a summary indicator of the"credibility of rules,"as well as its components in standard cross-country growth and investment regressions. The main findings: a) the overall indicator of credibility is significantly related with higher rates of investment and growth; b) the credibility indicator calculated for the subsample of small local companies is even more closely related to the growth performance; c) the subindicators"security of persons and property"and"predictability of rule-making"are most closely associated with growth; d) the indicators of"corruption,""perceived political instability,"and"predictability of judiciary enforcement"are most closely associated with investment; and e) preliminary results for an extended sample - including transition economies - indicate that institutional factors may also help to explaining difference in economic performance in these countries.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 1760.

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Date of creation: 30 Apr 1997
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1760

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Keywords: Health Monitoring&Evaluation Economic Theory&Research Public Health Promotion Fiscal&Monetary Policy Environmental Economics&Policies Governance Indicators Economic Theory&Research Pro-Poor Growth and Inequality Inequality Health Monitoring&Evaluation

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Kormendi, Roger C. & Meguire, Philip G., 1985. "Macroeconomic determinants of growth: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 141-163, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Easterly, William & Rebelo, Sergio, 1993. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: An empirical investigation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 417-458, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Brunetti, Aymo, 1997. " Political Variables in Cross-Country Growth Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(2), pages 163-90, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. William Easterly & Michael Kremer & Lant Pritchett & Lawrence H. Summers, 1993. "Good Policy or Good Luck? Country Growth Performance and Temporary Shocks," NBER Working Papers 4474, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Stanley Fischer, 1993. "The Role of Macroeconomic Factors in Growth," NBER Working Papers 4565, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," NBER Working Papers 3120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Barro, Robert J & Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1992. "Convergence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 223-51, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Joshua Aizenman & Nancy Marion, 1991. "Policy Uncertainty, Persistence and Growth," NBER Working Papers 3848, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. King, Robert G & Levine, Ross, 1993. "Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(3), pages 717-37, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-63, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong-Wha, 1994. "Sources of economic growth," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40, pages 1-46, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Azam, Jean-Paul & Ris, Catherine, 2001. "Rent-sharing, hold-up, and manufacturing wages in Cote d'Ivoire," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2600, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  2. Conconi, Paola & Perroni, Carlo, 2006. "Do Credible Domestic Institutions Promote Credible International Agreements?," CEPR Discussion Papers 5762, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Alberto Alesina & Beatrice Weder, 2002. "Do Corrupt Governments Receive Less Foreign Aid?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1126-1137, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. R.T.A. de Haas, 2001. "Financial development and economic growth in transition economies A survey of the theoretical and empirical literature," Research Series Supervision (discontinued) 35, Netherlands Central Bank, Directorate Supervision. [Downloadable!]
  5. Dzhumashev, Ratbek, 2008. "Corruption and regulatory burden," MPRA Paper 2081, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  6. Vatcharin Sirimaneetham, 2006. "Explaining policy volatility in developing countries," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 06/583, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  7. Axel Dreher & Thomas Herzfeld, 2005. "The Economic Costs of Corruption: A Survey and New Evidence," Public Economics 0506001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  8. Brunetti, Aymo & Kisunko, Gregory & Weder, Beatrice, 1997. "Institutional obstacles to doing business : region-by-region results from a worldwide survey of the private sector," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1759, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  9. Teuea Toatu, 2002. "Unravelling the Pacific Paradox," International and Development Economics Working Papers idec02-2, International and Development Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Hallward-Driemeier, Mary, 2001. "Firm-level survey provides data on Asia's corporate crisis and recovery," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2515, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  11. Aymo Brunetti & Beatrice Weder, 1998. "Investment and institutional uncertainty: A comparative study of different uncertainty measures," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 513-533, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Rahman, Aminur & Kisunko, Gregory & Kapoor, Kapil, 2000. "Estimating the effects of corruption - implications for Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2479, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  13. Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat, 2007. "Revisiting the Relationship between Govenance and Foreign Direct Investment," Working Papers DULBEA 07-13.RS, Université libre de Bruxelles, Department of Applied Economics (DULBEA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Aron, Janine, 2000. "Growth and Institutions: A Review of the Evidence," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 99-135, February. [Downloadable!]
  15. Basareva Vera, 2002. "Institutional Peculiarities of Small Business in Russia's Regions," EERC Working Paper Series 02-02e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS. [Downloadable!]
  16. Brunetti, Aymo & Kisunko, Gregory & Weder, Beatrice, 1997. "Institutions in transition : reliability of rules and economic performance in former Socialist countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1809, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  17. AZAM, Jean-Paul & MESNARD, Alice, 2001. "Civil War and the Social Contract," IDEI Working Papers 124, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
  18. Iman van Lelyveld & Arnold Schilder, 2003. "Risk in Financial Conglomerates: Management and Supervision," Finance 0301006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  19. Huang, Yasheng, 2005. "Are Foreign Firms Privileged By Their Host Governments? Evidence From The 2000 World Business Environment Survey," Working papers 4538-04, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
  20. Paola Conconi & Carlo Perroni, 2003. "Self-Enforcing International Agreements and Domestic Policy Credibility," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
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