Internet Diffusion and Government Corruption in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

In this paper we examine relationships among Internet diffusion, voice and accountability, and government corruption based on data from Latin American and Sub-Saharan African countries. Our study suggests that greater levels of Internet diffusion are associated with greater levels of voice and accountability, and that greater levels of voice and accountability are associated with lower levels of government corruption. Also, there seems to be an overall relationship between Internet diffusion and government corruption, which is primarily indirect and mediated by voice and accountability. Our results also suggest that, for each additional 15 Internet users per 100 inhabitants in a country in these regions, there is approximately a 35 percent decrease in government corruption, mediated by an increase in voice and accountability

Global Risks 2012, Seventh Edition

The World Economic Forum's Global Risks 2012 report is based on a survey of 469 experts from industry, government, academia and civil society that examines 50 global risks across five categories. The report emphasizes the singular effect of a particular constellation of global risks rather than focusing on a single existential risk. Three distinct constellations of risks that present a very serious threat to our future prosperity and security emerged from a review of this year's set of risks. Includes a special review of the important lessons learned from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis at Fukushima, Japan. It focuses on therole of leadership, challenges to effective communication in this information age and resilient business models in response to crises of unforeseen magnitude

Drivers of e-government maturity in two developing regions: focus on Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

This research focuses on the drivers of e-government (E-gov) maturity in two comparable developing regions of the world i.e. Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa (LA&SSA). E-gov maturity refers to the growth levels in a country's online services and its citizens' online participation in governance. To date, few researchers have focused on the drivers of E-gov maturity in LA&SSA. Given the challenges faced by LA&SSA with regard to the implementations and deployment of technological innovations including E-gov, research such as this current one is needed to enrich insight in such contexts. Building on a prior framework and the modernization theory (MT), the impacts of macro-environmental factors of political, economic, social, and technological dimensions on E-gov maturity in LA&SSA are examined. A longitudinal data i.e. a 5-year panel data consisting of 160 observations or data points was used for analysis in conjunction with the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Such factors as human capital development, technological infrastructure, and rule of law were found to have positive impacts on E-gov maturity in LA&SSA. To a large extent, national wealth served as an enabler in the proposed research conceptualization and not as a direct driver of E-gov maturity. The implications of the study's findings for research and policy making are discussed and future research areas noted

Policy reform, economic growth, and the digital divide - an econometric analysis

Rapid growth of Internet use in high-income economies, has raised the specter of a"digital divide"that will marginalize developing countries, because they can neither afford Internet access, nor use it effectively when it is available. Using a new cross-country data set, the authors investigate two proximate determinants of the digital divide: Internet intensity (Internet subscriptions per telephones mainline), and access to telecom services. Surprisingly, they find no gap in Internet intensity. When differences in urbanization, and competition policy are controlled for, low-income countries have intensities as high as those of industrial countries. While income does not seem to matter in this context, competition policy matters a great deal. Low-income countries with high World Bank ratings for competition policy, have significantly higher Internet intensities. The authors'findings on Internet intensity implies that the digital divide is not really new, but reflects a persistent gap in the availability of mainline telephones services. After identifying mobile telephones as a promising new platform for Internet access, they use panel data to study the determinants of mobile telephone diffusion during the past decade. Their results show that income explains part of the diffusion lag for poor countries, but they also highlight the critical role of policy. Developing countries whose policies promote economic growth, and private sector competition, have experienced much more rapid diffusion of mobile telephone services. Simulations based on the econometric results, suggest that feasible reforms could sharply narrow the digital divide during the next decade for many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The authors'review of the literature, also suggests that direct access promotion would yield substantial benefits for poor households, and that cost-effective intervention strategies are now available.ICT Policy and Strategies,Knowledge Economy,Education for the Knowledge Economy,Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

Measuring the capability to raise revenue process and output dimensions and their application to the Zambia revenue authority

The worldwide diffusion of the good governance agenda and new public management has triggered a renewed focus on state capability and, more specifically, on the capability to raise revenue in developing countries. However, the analytical tools for a comprehensive understanding of the capability to raise revenue remain underdeveloped. This article aims at filling this gap and presents a model consisting of the three process dimensions ‘information collection and processing’, ‘merit orientation’ and ‘administrative accountability’. ‘Revenue performance’ constitutes the fourth capability dimension which assesses tax administration’s output. This model is applied to the case of the Zambia Revenue Authority. The dimensions prove to be valuable not only for assessing the how much but also the how of collecting taxes. They can be a useful tool for future comparative analyses of tax administrations’ capabilities in developing countries.Die weltweite Verbreitung der Good-Governance- und New-Public-Management-Konzepte hat zu einer zunehmenden Konzentration auf staatliche Leistungsfähigkeit und, im Besonderen, auf die Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuererhebung in Entwicklungsländern geführt. Allerdings bleiben die analytischen Werkzeuge für ein umfassendes Verständnis von Leistungsfähigkeit unterentwickelt. Dieser Artikel stellt hierfür ein Modell vor, das die drei Prozess-Dimensionen „Sammeln und Verarbeiten von Informationen“, „Leistungsorientierung der Mitarbeiter“ und „Verantwortlichkeit der Verwaltung“ beinhaltet. „Einnahmeperformanz“ ist die vierte Dimension und erfasst den Output der Steuerverwaltung. Das mehrdimensionale Modell wird für die Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuerbehörde Zambias (Zambia Revenue Authority) genutzt. Es erweist sich nicht nur für die Untersuchung des Wieviel, sondern auch des Wie des Erhebens von Steuern als wertvoll. Die vier Dimensionen können in Zukunft zur umfassenden und vergleichenden Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit verschiedener Steuerverwaltungen in Entwicklungsländern genutzt werden

Measuring the Capability to Raise Revenue Process and Output Dimensions and Their Application to the Zambia Revenue Authority

The worldwide diffusion of the good governance agenda and new public management has triggered a renewed focus on state capability and, more specifically, on the capability to raise revenue in developing countries. However, the analytical tools for a comprehensive understanding of the capability to raise revenue remain underdeveloped. This article aims at filling this gap and presents a model consisting of the three process dimensions ‘information collection and processing’, ‘merit orientation’ and ‘administrative accountability’. ‘Revenue performance’ constitutes the fourth capability dimension which assesses tax administration’s output. This model is applied to the case of the Zambia Revenue Authority. The dimensions prove to be valuable not only for assessing the how much but also the how of collecting taxes. They can be a useful tool for future comparative analyses of tax administrations’ capabilities in developing countries.capability to raise revenue, revenue authority, tax administration, Zambia

Examining the relationship between government corruption and internet freedom in the Republic of Turkey

Government corruption is a problem found in varying degrees in almost every country around the world. Corruption can be defined as the misuse of public office for private gain. Some examples of government corruption are bribery, theft and tax evasion which all can be found in developing countries costing them trillions of dollars every year. The goal of the current study is to explore the relationship between government corruption and the role of internet freedom, using Turkey as a case study. Internet freedom is a broad term that includes having Internet access, digital rights, net neutrality, and freedom of information. The media can aid in the fight against corruption by shedding light on illicit or unethical government activities. Turkey’s internet freedom levels through Freedom House show that the country in itself is not free. Throughout this research, studies illustrate the importance of access to the internet, as it can lead to increases in voice and accountability and decreases in government corruption. Studies revealed that higher levels of corruption are linked to lower evaluations of government performance.Given that the internet can be used to shed light on social issues, as well as government corruption, it should come as no surprise that some governments are limiting citizens\u27 access to the internet. Given the critical role that the internet plays in increasing governmental voice and accountability, as well as reducing levels of corruption, it is clear that little will change in Turkey until citizens have free access to the internet

Abstracts : Policy Research working paper series - numbers 2754 - 2802

This paper contains abstracts of Policy Research working paper series, numbers 2754 - 2802.Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Poverty Assessment,Economic Theory&Research

Traditional and Information Technology Anti-Corruption Strategies for Curbing the Public Sector Corruption in Developing Economies of Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Literature Review

The pervasiveness of public sector corruption has been a major concern by successive governments and their citizenry. In order to curb such corruption, previous studies have focused on the anti-corruption strategies adopted by governments in isolation, but little or no study has focused on the interactions of the anti-corruption strategies. Using the concept-centric approach, we reviewed 91 studies systematically to understand the trends of government anti-corruption strategies. From the synthesized studies, we identified three dominant themes of anti-corruption strategies and their associated concepts. In addition, we also identified one dimension that captures information technology (IT) as a vehicle that enhances corrupt practices in the public sector. The identified themes include traditional, technological, transparency, and accountability anti-corruption strategies. We leveraged the identified themes and their associated concepts to develop a conceptual model that could explain the trends of anti-corruption strategies for curbing the public sector corruption. Our findings suggest that there are things we still need to know, particularly in the case of IT anti-corruption strategies that have been misused for corrupt purposes, especially in the context of e-government systems’ adoption in the public sectors as a new stream of IS research

Barriers to Innovation and Public Policy in Sub-Sahara Africa

Countries in sub-Sahara Africa are increasingly becoming aware of the role of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in lifting the region from the doldrums of poverty and deprivation. This is necessary if the continent aims to add value to its raw material in order to remain competitive in the global market and at the same time diversify the structure of its economies.  This paper aims to explore policies on STI implemented across countries in the region and how these policies have managed to change the status quo and ultimately led to building technological capability economies to enhance the wellbeing of the region.The paper primarily focuses on countries within sub-Sahara Africa excluding North Africa and the Middle East. However, comparisons are occasionally drawn from certain countries in the west and emerging economies.The paper systematically reviews national science, technology and innovation plans of selected countries in sub-Sahara Africa. Other secondary sources included credible journal articles, commentary, webpages, working papers and reports published on the selected countries.Empirical evidence gathered from secondary sources indicate that governments in the region have built public organizations and institutions to support STI. Yet technology-capability indicators available illustrates the results are far from expectation. The paper further discusses the barriers faced by governments in the design and implementation of STI policies that have led to the ensuing situation.In the face of the significant progress in setting up institutional frameworks across countries in the region leading to the adoption of a systemic approach, the ensuing results of STI policies in the region is marginal as evidenced in the indicators. Human and financial resources devoted to them are in shortfall. We admonish countries in the region to take all the necessary steps to develop national evaluation and STI data stand. The success of this approach will be contingent on the region first of all being able to evolve a specific conceptual and methodological tools for monitoring and assessing STI policies. Area of financing STI policies have to be reconsidered. Tax incentives and havens for technology related businesses ought to be given priority to augment already existing instruments such as export-led instruments. Keywords: Barriers; Sub-Sahara Africa; Policy, Science and Technology and Innovation (STI); Entrepreneurship