Analysis of the Impact of Employee Share Ownership on the Quality of Governance

This research assesses the “positive or negative” effects of employee share ownership on good governance in Morocco. It focuses on a lagging but constantly evolving phenomenon in Morocco due, on the one hand, to the lack of awareness of its positive effects on both individual and organizational performance and, on the other hand, on the significant delay in Moroccan legislation regarding this subject. The authors propose an index to measure good governance that they use in order to test research hypotheses. The quantitative study examines all companies listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange over an observation period from 2015 to 2020. Through this research, the authors demonstrate the favorable effects of employee share ownership on good governance.

Assessment of Corruption Level as a Component of Governance Indicator: International Experience and Russian Practices

As corruptions is one of the most important problems in most modern states, its assessment forms an important part of integral governance indicator. Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), a technique, worked out by The World Bank, is widely used in the international level. Since 2019 the technique “Methodology of Conducting Sociological Surveys for Corruption Assessment in the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation” (further in the text — Methodology of the Russian Federation Government), adopted by the Government Decree of the Russian Federation, is used in the national level. The main purpose of the present research is to evaluate how the national methodology of corruption assessment reflects the quality of governance in this sphere. The research focuses on the main techniques for corruption assessment in different levels. The study analyses the main scientific statements for corruption assessment as a component of integral quality indicator of governance. Secondary data of corruption survey’s findings formed the information and empirical base of the research. The novelty of the study is in developing original author’s approach towards methodological aspects of comprehensive governance assessment. It was found that the national methodology is an alternative approach, characterizing the quality of governance in this sphere. The research revealed several drawbacks of the indicative methodology issued by the World Bank. The Methodology of the Russian Federation Government more appropriately reflects the corruption level and more accurately characterizes the governance quality in the sphere of fighting corruption in the regions of the Russian Federation.

How Do Violent Politicians Govern? The Case of Paramilitary-Tied Mayors in Colombia

How do politicians with coercive linkages govern? This article relies on original data on militia-linked mayors in Colombia from 1988 to 2015 derived from 42,000 pages of Colombian Supreme Court sentencing documents. Using a regression discontinuity design, it examines the governance records of militia-tied mayors who won the elections by a narrow margin. It finds that being ruled by a militia-linked mayor significantly reduces levels of insecurity and crime, but has pernicious effects on the provision of other public goods, especially education. I theorize that these politicians' (perverse) comparative advantage on security, combined with their crowding out of social spending, engenders these outcomes. I evaluate these mechanisms with data on the nature of paramilitary–mayor alliances, police reinforcements, municipal budgets, politicians' Twitter feeds, and in-depth interviews with paramilitary commanders and politicians. The article has implications for understanding the effects of voting for politicians with coercive ties on the quality of governance and democracy.

Effect of quality of governance on the relationship between illicit financial flows and economic growth

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the study aims to examine the direct effect of illicit financial flows (IFF) and quality of governance (QoG) on economic growth. Second, this study seeks to examine the moderating effect of QoG on the economic consequences of IFF. Design/methodology/approach This study collected data from nine The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries for the period of 10 years from 2008 to 2019. The study concerned an analysis of the testing of a conceptual framework which based on secondary data which may lack a comprehensive substantiation on the grounds of measurement theory. A partial least squares (PLS) modelling using the SmartPLS 3.2.8 version was used as a statistical tool to examine the measurement and structural model. Findings Key findings provide empirical support on the effect of IFF and QoG on economic growth. It also confirmed that QoG significantly moderated the relationship between IFF and economic growth by reducing the negative impact of IFF on economic growth. Practical implications Immediate corrective action needs to be implemented by policymakers of ASEAN countries to strengthen QoG to effectively curb IIF activities. Originality/value This study provides current empirical evidence on the relationship of IFF, QoG and economic growth within ASEAN countries.

The Impact of Quality of Governance, Renewable Energy and Foreign Direct Investment on Sustainable Development in Cee Countries

Recent debates on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in the context of the European Green Deal highlights that pollution could be controlled using channels other than economic development. The role of renewable energy consumption in reducing pollution should be correlated with quality of governance, which could support initiatives for a cleaner environment. This study considers the renewable Kuznets curve for 10 Central and Eastern European countries in the period 2006–2019, using economic indicators (index of economic freedom, foreign direct investment, domestic credit to private sector and labour productivity) as control variables and indicators reflecting the quality of governance (Worldwide Governance Indicators and Google Trend indexes associated to key-word corruption in each language). The research is based on two types of panel data models: panel dynamic OLS model (PDOLS) and panel autoregressive distributed lag models based on pooled mean group (PMG) estimator. The results indicate that government effectiveness reduces pollution in both the short-run and long-run, while control of corruption and rule of law supports environmental protection in the long-run. Google searches for corruption as a proxy for quality of governance indicate that tGHG emissions have immediate and practical implications in nowcasting pollution.

It matters to be in good hands: the relationship between good governance and pandemic spread inferred from cross-country COVID-19 data

This study examines the relationship between good governance and pandemic control using month-wise COVID-19 pandemic data within a time window from April to September 2020. The study argues that countries with better governance are more capable of adopting and implementing appropriate policies and that such governments are considered more trustworthy by their people. Combined, these factors enable such countries to better control a pandemic like COVID-19. Using several measures of good governance and two measures of pandemic spread, namely the COVID-19 positive rate and the COVID-19 growth rate, this paper tests its argument econometrically in a sample of 185 countries. The results show the existence of a significant inverse relationship between all measures of good governance, and the COVID-19 positive and growth rates. The significant inverse relationship largely persists even after controlling for continent-fixed effects and a host of geographic, demographic, and socio-economic factors. This indicates the presence of a strong systemic linkage between quality of governance and pandemic control. The findings empirically strengthen the argument of eminent medical historians concerning the importance of effective governmental intervention for epidemic control. The study reveals that the quality of governance is a key factor in a country’s success in pandemic management and encourages further investigation.

The relevance of budget transparency for development

This study aims to highlight the relevance of budget transparency in improving human development and fill the gap in the literature, which has traditionally considered the concept of development in economic terms. Here, development refers to levels of knowledge, the possibility of enjoying a long and healthy life and having a decent standard of living. Improving human development is the main point of interest in the assessment of public policy outcomes and this study is focussed on one specific policy, namely, budget transparency. By using a pool of 110 countries for the years 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017, the empirical results demonstrate a positive effect of the open budget index on the human development index, suggesting that budget transparency is a good way to improve levels of human development. These findings are essential not only for academic debate but also for practitioners because they show transparency as a relevant tool to improve human development. Points for practitioners Budget transparency is a relevant tool to improve human development. Transparency may improve the quality of life through a better quality of governance. The central roles played by transparency and participation coupled with accountability have been confirmed. The complexity of the concept of human development involves, among other things, disclosing information regarding the public policies. Examining budgets, guaranteeing their transparency as well as the transparency of the budgeting process, is highly recommended to improve human development.