Bureaucratic Quality Research Articles

Does women's political participation promote green innovation? Global evidence

AbstractA long‐standing theory is that men value technology, while women focus more on human welfare and living conditions. Using data from 101 countries between 1996 and 2019, this study examines the impact of women's political participation on green innovation. Our results show that a one‐unit increase in women's political participation is positively associated with a 0.081 unit increase in the standard deviation of green innovation. This effect is particularly significant in developed countries where women's political participation is above the global average. Analysis using the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) shows a more pronounced effect at lower quantiles of green innovation in high‐carbon countries, due to women's heightened environmental sensitivity. Furthermore, implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, bureaucratic quality, and law and order strengthen this relationship. Accordingly, we identify countries that should prioritize improving women's political status, especially in patriarchal and Muslim societies.

Reinforcing inequalities: A critical examination of international sanctions and bureaucratic decline in the Global South

This study critically examines the impact of international sanctions on bureaucratic quality in 74 developing countries from 1990 to 2020, highlighting how global governance mechanisms influence domestic institutional capacities. By focusing on the interaction between sanctions and economic crises, the research provides fresh empirical evidence on how external political pressures can inadvertently hinder development trajectories in the Global South. Utilizing a fixed-effect regression methodology with robust controls and addressing endogeneity concerns, the findings reveal that international sanctions—especially multilateral ones from the EU and UN—significantly deteriorate bureaucratic quality, particularly during economic crises. This deterioration undermines state capacity, exacerbates inequalities, and challenges the effectiveness and fairness of sanctions as tools of global governance. The study contributes to debates on global development by demonstrating how sanctions can reinforce global power asymmetries and produce divergent development outcomes. It urges a re-evaluation of sanctions within international policy, advocating for more equitable and context-sensitive approaches that prioritize the institutional integrity and development needs of vulnerable nations. The research underscores the importance of aligning global governance mechanisms with ethical principles and development goals, promoting dialogue and collaboration over punitive measures to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable global development paradigm.

Informality, foreign ownership and bribery in developing countries

AbstractPrevious studies have evaluated the characteristics of enterprises; however, the understanding of the effects of foreign capital and competition with the informal sector on the occurrence of bribery is limited. Competition with the informal sector is related to fundamental characteristics of the involved countries, such as low development levels, which, in turn, is connected to high levels of corruption. There is no consensus concerning the impact of foreign capital on corruption. Using a multilevel logit, we estimate the likelihood of bribery among firms in 88 emerging countries. This study finds that competition with informal enterprises is associated with an increased likelihood of bribery occurrence; however, there is no difference between foreign and domestic corporations in terms of corrupt behavior. We split the countries into six regions. Competition with the informal sector presents a positive effect on the firms' likelihood to bribe in five of these six regions. Foreign capital is statistically nonsignificant in all regions, while a significant difference is found across the regions related to the effects of improvement in bureaucratic quality, income, and national political stability. The study indicates that homogenous anti‐corruption policies are not very effective.

Investigating institutional and expenditure patterns on debt and economic growth in Ghana

AbstractThis study investigates the influence of government expenditure and institutions on public debt accumulation and economic growth in Ghana between 1990 and 2019. The paper examines how public debt is utilized for government spending on capital and recurrent expenditure, and the role bureaucratic quality plays in improving economic growth. The employed estimation technique is structural equation modelling because it effectively assesses complex situations and allows the modelling of complex systems by utilizing simultaneous equations, mediator analysis and modification indices to improve the goodness of fit of a model. The study indicates that public debt negatively affects GDP growth, whereas trade openness positively influences GDP growth and public debt accumulation. Bureaucratic quality impacts GDP growth positively and capital expenditure negatively. Recurrent expenditure positively predicts GDP growth and capital expenditure. Capital expenditure's effect on GDP growth is negative but statistically insignificant. The right checks and balances should be implemented to mitigate rent‐seeking and corrupt activities associated with bureaucracy. Tax revenue mobilization should be improved to reduce budget deficits and borrowing, whereas exports should be promoted through improving local industries. Finally, all infrastructural projects must be completed to serve their purpose.

Exploring East Asia's Successful Early-Stage Covid-19 Response: An Empirical Investigation

AbstractThis study examines whether a degree of autocracy and high quality of bureaucracy—two mechanisms often discussed in the context of Covid-19 responses—provide a meaningful explanation for East Asia's relative success compared to the rest of the world at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Our multiple regression analysis for 111 countries supports our expectation, as East Asia as a region is significantly and negatively associated with confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths compared to the rest of the world, and its interaction with the quality of bureaucracy further contributes to the negative association. In sum, this research highlights the important role of East Asia's regional characteristics in pandemic responses.

Bureaucratic Quality and Electoral Accountability

In many theories of electoral accountability, voters learn about an incumbent’s quality by observing public goods outcomes. But empirical findings are mixed, suggesting that increasing the visibility of these outcomes only sometimes improves accountability. I reconcile these heterogeneous findings by highlighting bureaucrats’ role in the production of public goods. In a simple model of electoral accountability involving a voter, a politician, and a bureaucrat, I show that accountability relationships yield distinct empirical implications at different levels of bureaucratic quality. To illustrate how this model rationalizes otherwise mixed or heterogeneous results, I develop a new research design—a theoretically structured meta-study—to synthesize existing findings. Meta-study evidence on the accountability of Brazilian mayors suggests that a common model of electoral accountability that allows for variation in bureaucratic quality predicts observed heterogeneity in politician and voter behavior and beliefs across multiple studies with distinct samples, treatments, and outcomes.

Exploring the effect of International Public Sector Accounting Standards adoption on national resource allocation efficiency in developing countries

International capital providers such as the World Bank suggest that inefficient resource allocation in developing countries remains a major challenge for borrowing countries. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine whether the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) improves the resource allocation efficiency of developing countries. A robust econometric modeling including fixed effect and Two-Step Generalized Method of Moments is employed on a sample of 64 developing countries between 2005 and 2021. The results are not sensitive to potential endogeneity issues. The findings indicate that the IPSAS coefficient is significantly and positively correlated at a 5% level or higher. This suggests a strong and significant relationship between IPSAS adoption and resource allocation, indicating that using IPSAS improves efficient resource allocation. Additionally, the resource allocation coefficient is positive and highly significant at a 5% level or higher. These results are particularly notable in countries with low bureaucratic quality, suggesting that IPSAS adoption strengthens policies and regulations in the public sector’s financial structure, ultimately leading to more efficient resource allocation. Therefore, these findings imply that adopting IPSAS is crucial for developing countries to ensure efficient resource allocation and attract international capital providers.

Improving Service Quality Through the Performance of State Civil Apparatus in Sangir Batanghari District

The purpose of this research is to find out and describe the performance of state civil servants in improving the quality of service in Sangir Batang Hari District and to find out the supporting and inhibiting factors for the performance of state civil servants in improving service quality in Sangir Batang Hari District. This type of research is qualitative descriptive research. The results of the research show that the performance of state civil servants in improving the quality of services in Sangir Batang Hari District still needs to be improved. Progress in carrying out the work of the state civil apparatus can be seen from the use of technology-based systems. This can make it easier and shorten the time in carrying out services to the community. However, there are still several things that need to be improved in improving the quality of bureaucracy in Sangir Batang Hari District. As an example of an attitude of initiative, smiling and being friendly towards the community which must be further improved by the state civil servants. There is a need to increase the dissemination of information to the public, because so far there are still many people who do not understand the rules of administrative affairs, considering that a lot of time is wasted when people come without bringing complete requirements. Apart from that, it is necessary to complete and improve inadequate facilities and infrastructure, for example the number of computers, work space equipment and waiting rooms. Because if the facilities and infrastructure are inadequate, this will certainly affect the quality of service.

Relationship between Institutional Structure and Economic Growth in Nepal

The macroeconomic performances of any countries are influenced by the with institutional structure. This study aims to estimate the effects of capital formation, labor force participation, and basically institutional index of economic freedom; size of government, legal system and property rights, freedom to trade internationally, sound money and regulation on economic performance using time series data from 2001 to 2020 using ARDL model. The results shows that the gross capital formation, the labor force participation rate have positive relation with GNI per capita whereas the legal system and property rights have negative relation with GNI per capita increases. In long run, only the annual growth of gross capital formation has significant relation with GNI per capita growth but rest of the variables are insignificant. It can be concluded that the institutions are less likely efficient. The bureaucratic quality is least effective, doing business is costly due to weak social structure. The existing institutions have not sufficient level of regulations legally. It can be claimed that there is not efficient set of institutional structure which is valid in every country as a good institution in Nepal.

Energizing Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises for environmental sustainability in poor Europe: Do green finance and bureaucratic quality matter?

AbstractThe sacrosanct role played by small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in shaping economic realities in Europe resonates the accompanying impact of their activities on the environment. Furthermore, the unequal access to green finance across various sizes of small and medium enterprises alongside low level of bureaucratic quality in low‐income nations in Europe further complicates the attainment of climatic targets by 2050. The study investigates the SME‐environmental sustainability link amidst the moderating role of green finance and bureaucratic quality in selected low‐income nations in Europe. Findings show that SMEs increased carbon emissions across all quantiles in the selected countries. The results from the interaction towed double‐ends; interaction between SMEs and green finance reduced carbon emissions significantly from lower to upper quantiles. The interaction between SMEs and bureaucratic quality aggravates the level of carbon emission across all quantiles. Relevant policy recommendations were proffered to the sovereign governments and relevant EU agencies within the manuscript.

Bureaucratic Quality and the Gap between Implementation Burden and Administrative Capacities

Democratic governments produce more policies than they can effectively implement. Yet, this gap between the number of policies requiring implementation and the administrative capacities available to do so is not the same in all democracies but varies across countries and sectors. We argue that this variation depends on the coupling of the sectoral bureaucracies in charge of policy formulation and those in charge of policy implementation. We consider these patterns of vertical policy-process integration an important feature of bureaucratic quality. The more the policymaking level is involved in policy implementation (top-down integration) and the easier the policy-implementing level finds it to feed its concerns into policymaking (bottom-up integration), the smaller the so-called “burden-capacity gap.” We demonstrate this effect through an empirical analysis in 21 OECD countries over a period of more than 40 years in the areas of social and environmental policies.

The valuation effect of going International: evidence from QDII in China

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to evaluate the valuation effect of deregulation policy on capital outflows by an event study approach. Using the policy announcement of Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) and Bond Connect in China, we find a short-term valuation effect that the stock market responds negatively to the deregulation on capital outflows and firm’s size could act as a shield to defend this shock. Moreover, the financially constrained firms are more negatively affected by this policy shock, suggesting that financial vulnerability is an important force driving down the stock valuation. Finally, both the quality of corporate governance and bureaucratic quality of local government could help firms to avoid valuation loss from this policy shock especially those with tight financial constraints.

Energy consumption and innovation-environmental degradation nexus in BRICS countries: new evidence from NARDL approach using carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.

The BRICS nations-Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-have grown significantly in importance over the past few decades, playing a vital role in the development and growth of the global economy. This expansion has not been without cost, either, since these countries' concern over environmental deterioration has risen sharply. Both researchers and decision-makers have focused a lot of attention on the connection between economic growth and ecological sustainability. By using nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach, the complex relationships were analyzed between important economic indicators-such as gross domestic product (GDP), ecological innovations (EI), energy consumption (ENC), institutional performance (IP), and trade openness (TOP)-and their effect on carbon emissions and nitrous oxide emissions in the BRICS countries from 1990 to 2021, this study seeks to contribute to this important dialog. Principal component analysis is formed for technological innovations and institutional performance using six (ICT service exports as a percentage of service exports, computer communications as a percentage of commercial service exports, fixed telephone subscriptions per 100 people, internet users as a percentage of the population, number of patent applications, and R&D expenditures as a percentage of GDP) and twelve (government stability, investment profile, socioeconomic conditions, internal conflict, external conflict, military in politics, control of corruption, religious tensions, ethnic tensions, law and order, bureaucracy quality, and democratic accountability) distinct indicators, respectively. The results of nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag estimation show that increase in economic growth would increase carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions. The positive and negative shocks in trade openness have positive and significant impact on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions in BRICS countries. Furthermore, the positive shock energy consumptions have positive and significant effect on Brazil and India when carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions are used. However, EKC exists in BRICS countries when carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions are used. According to long-term estimation, energy consumption and technological innovations in the BRICS countries show a strong and adverse link with nitrous oxide and a favorable relationship with carbon dioxide emissions. In the long run, environmental indicators are seen to have a major and unfavorable impact in BRICS nations. Finally, it is proposed that BRICS nations can assure environmental sustainability if they support creative activities, enhance their institutions, and support free trade policies.

Fiscal deficit in sub-saharan Africa: A new intuition from the institution and political drivers.

Motivated by the growing fiscal deficits in sub-Saharan Africa, this study examines fiscal deficit's economic, political, and institutional drivers using a panel of twenty-three sub-Saharan African countries. Panel spatial consistent correlation, dynamic fixed effects autoregressive distributed lag, and feasible generalised ordinary least squares were used as the estimation techniques. Our findings reveal that while per capita income, trade openness, population, and religious tension increase the size of fiscal deficit, bureaucracy quality, government stability, Law and order, and military in politics reduce the extent of fiscal deficit. However, corruption control, democratic accountability, and internal conflict have weaker statistical evidence. Furthermore, the study established evidence of long-run co-integration relationships among institutional factors, economic factors, and fiscal deficits in SSA. Per capita income has a significant positive influence in the short run but a negative effect in the long run. Population and religious tension positively impact fiscal deficit in both periods. However, democratic accountability, government stability, and the military in politics significantly negatively impact fiscal deficit in the long run. This study concludes that beyond economic factors, institutional and political factors are significant drivers of fiscal deficit in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, strengthening the institutional quality and creating a stable political environment would lessen the accumulation of fiscal deficit.

The role of impartial administration in financial sector performance: A comparative study of Latin America and Sub-Saharan African countries

Abstract Emerging nations are often distressed if their current administration and governance do not align with social and national needs. Among these worries, there is the fear of public funds misconduct and corruption in the nation’s major institutions. Indeed, inadequate administration results in embezzlement of funds, tax evasion, and low bureaucratic quality in all sectors. This study was undertaken to address the role of impartial administration specifically in the financial sector. The research considered a sample size composed of 12 countries from Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa in the period of 2000 to 2021. The net interest margin was considered a proxy for financial performance measurement. Additionally, an ordinary least squares and quantile regression was performed to record the effect of the variables on financial sector performance. Within this context, the findings exhibited different outcomes for these regions. For instance, in the Latin America region, the results revealed that public sector theft, bureaucratic quality, corruption level, local government index, and inflation have a negative impact on the performance of the financial sector while impartial public administration demonstrated a positive impact on financial performance. On the other hand, the Sub-Saharan African region demonstrated that bureaucratic quality, local government index, and inflation have a significant and positive impact on financial performance, whereas executive embezzlement and theft, corruption level, and government final expenditures were shown to negatively influence financial performance. Finally, the study’s findings provides insights into the policies and strategies to implement in order to support the financial framework.

Unlocking Government Effectiveness: The Interplay of Bureaucratic Quality, Information Technology, Voice and Accountability

A high unemployment rate, poor quality service, rampant corruption cases and low economic growth characterise an ineffective government. In contrast, an effective government is a fundamental element of global economic development. The role of bureaucratic quality towards government effectiveness has generated a growing interest in the modern world. Bureaucratic quality evaluates public bureaucracy on transparency of political leaders and the letter of law to strictly agree with the rules. This study examined the role of bureaucratic quality on government effectiveness by examining the intervening effects of information technology and voice and accountability. We collected 25 years of data (1996 -2021) from eight ASEAN countries. Using the Generalised Method of Moments estimator, we estimated a panel data dependence model to overcome heterogeneity and endogeneity issues. The results showed that bureaucratic quality explained government effectiveness through the intervention of information technology and voice and accountability. This study contributes to how bureaucratic quality and the use of information technology can make government work better, but this can only be done fully if there are also ways for people to get involved and be held accountable. Keywords: bureaucratic quality, government effectiveness, information technology, voice and accountability

Impact of administrative state capacity determinants on sustainable healthcare

Public administration implements government policies through prudent administrative practices and state capacity. Based on Asia's political and administrative proficiency and paradox, this study explores the administrative state capacity determinants—bureaucratic quality (BQ) and military in politics (MP)—and their interaction with sustainable public health quality (PHQ) in Asia from 2006 to 2020. With its focus on the scenario and Asian state administrative issues, Goal 04: Health and Well-being of Sustainable Development Goals has been the core aspect of state capacity and sustainable development. Applying the generalized method of moments (GMM) econometric estimation, the study finds that the high risk of poor BQ due to political pressures and policy inconsistency has significantly and negatively impacted PHQ in Asia. In contrast, by overtaking the administration, a high degree of MP and military dominancy has been a progressive force for PHQ in Asia. The interaction of BQ and MP negatively affects the state's social development due to conflict of interest and shredding policy outcomes. This is the first study that deals with the nexus between sustainable development and administrative state capacity determinants of Asia's public sector. The paper finds that an effective and prudent administrative collaboration and expertise-sharing between the bureaucracy and the military accelerates sustainable healthcare in Asia. Furthermore, the study believes that a healthy institutional collaboration will help overcome the development loopholes in Asia, promote PHQ, and accelerate regional development.

The bureaucracy trap

We study the incentives of political parties to institute reforms that improve bureaucratic quality and increase the ability of governments to implement policy change. We consider a context of dynamic elections where current rigidities do not permit large changes in policies. We show that reforms in which a sufficient share of benefits are experienced late in time will never be implemented if parties are patient enough.

Assessing the long- and short-run effects of climate change and institutional quality on economic growth in Somalia

Climate change is considered one of the most defining challenges in this century because it poses a threat to the health and well-being of every person in the world by posing a large aggregate risk to the economy. Developing and least developed countries such as Somalia are the most vulnerable countries to climate change consequences. Besides the vulnerability to climate change, government institutions in Somalia have been malfunctioning since 1991 hence affecting economic growth. Hence, this empirical work addresses the long-and short-run effects of institutional quality and climate change on economic growth in Somalia for the period 1985–2017 using the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL), Johansen and Juselius Cointegration, and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS). The empirical results found that institutional quality and climate change are cointegrated into economic growth in the long run. Furthermore, average rainfall, instutional quality , and capital stimulate economic growth in Somalia in the long run; whereas the average temperature has a devastating effect on economic growth in the long run. These results are robust for various econometric methods. However, the study proposes implementing policies related to climate adaptability and mitigation strategies, and improving institutional quality such as; law and order, government effectiveness, and bureaucratic quality, as these will confirm sustainable economic growth in the long run.

A Costly Commitment: Populism, Economic Performance, and the Quality of Bureaucracy

AbstractWe study the consequences of populism for economic performance and the quality of bureaucracy. When voters lose trust in representative democracy, populists strategically supply unconditional policy commitments that are easier to monitor for voters. When in power, populists try to implement their policy commitments regardless of financial constraints and expert assessment of the feasibility of their policies, worsening government economic performance and dismantling resistance from expert bureaucrats. With novel data on more than 8,000 Italian municipalities covering more than 20 years, we estimate the effect of electing a populist mayor with a close‐election regression discontinuity design. We find that the election of a populist mayor leads to smaller repayments of debts, a larger share of procurement contracts with cost overruns, higher turnover among top bureaucrats—driven by forced rather than voluntary departures—and a sharp decrease in the percentage of postgraduate bureaucrats.