Context Is Everything : Measuring Institutional Change in Transition Economies
The author presents measures with which to map institution building during the transition from centrally planned to market economies. Data collection and indicators are measured in terms of five institutional dimensions of governance: a) accountabi...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/01/439013/context-everything-measuring-institutional-change-transition-economies http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22281 |
| Summary: | The author presents measures with which
to map institution building during the transition from
centrally planned to market economies. Data collection and
indicators are measured in terms of five institutional
dimensions of governance: a) accountability; b) quality of
the bureaucracy; c) rule of law; d) character of
policy-making process; and e) strength of civil society. The
author highlights the differences over time and between
Central and Eastern European countries and those of the
former Soviet Union. In terms of effects of per capita
income and school enrollment, he finds the rule of law to be
the most important institutional dimension, both for the
sample as a whole and for differences between the two
regions. In terms of life expectancy, however, the quality
of the bureaucracy plays the most crucial role. One
important message the author draws from the results is that
institutions do change over time and are by no means as
immutable as the literature has suggested. The range of
feasible policy choices (for changing institutions) may be
much wider than is often assumed. |
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