By: Raquel Mayer and Juanita Riaño, Office of Institutional Integrity, Inter-American Development Bank A few days ago we were reminded on this blog of an idea to reduce the incidence of bribery proposed last year by Kaushik Basu, then India’s Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India and, and since last month, the World Banks’ Chief Economist. Dr. Basu argued in … [Read more...] about Seven reasons why it would not be a good idea to legalize bribe-paying
What does and doesn't work in development
Seven reasons why it would not be a good idea to legalize bribe-paying
By: Raquel Mayer and Juanita Riaño, Office of Institutional Integrity, Inter-American Development Bank A few days ago we were reminded on this blog of an idea to reduce the incidence of bribery proposed last year by Kaushik Basu, then India’s Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India and, and since last month, the World Banks’ Chief Economist. Dr. Basu argued … [Read more...] about Seven reasons why it would not be a good idea to legalize bribe-paying
Cement is good (for politicians too)
Almost a year ago, we published a blog on the results of an innovative experiment that estimated the impact of paving streets in Mexico on property and land values, credit or use of durable goods. Cement was good. Now the authors (Marco Gonzalez-Navarro and Climent Quintana-Domeque) are circulating a working paper on the impact of street pavement on electoral support. … [Read more...] about Cement is good (for politicians too)
Does it matter how we compare schools?
In Mexico, over 95% of elementary schools receive annual report cards. These cards provide information on the standardized average school test scores in Math, Spanish and a rotating subject. The card also includes past performance and State and Country averages. Starting in 2009, the state and country averages were made specific to the marginality level of the locality … [Read more...] about Does it matter how we compare schools?
2 additional examples of strategic ignorance
In a previous previous blog, I explored the positive impact of impact evaluations and impact evaluation institutional frameworks have had on policy formulation. And in a previous blog, I discussed two examples of areas where one would hope that investments and policy reflect the evidence, but do not: migration and investing in young males in urban areas. Two … [Read more...] about 2 additional examples of strategic ignorance