Papers by Francesca Recanatini
Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 22, 2018
Since the 1990s, governance and anti-corruption have become preoccupations of the international d... more Since the 1990s, governance and anti-corruption have become preoccupations of the international development and research communities, leading to the proliferation of sophisticated measures, which, while a critical starting point, have not had significant impact at the country level. This chapter examines approaches to reducing corruption, including structural state reform, simplification and reduction of administrative discretion, transparency and accountability, international agreements and conventions, and anti-corruption bodies. While some approaches have produced results in specific areas, their impact has been limited. The chapter argues that we should think about corruption differently, not as a market distortion or unethical behaviour but as a misallocation of power. To address corruption requires interventions that reallocate power among stakeholders. The limited success in addressing corruption suggests that policy-makers and the international community have not been able to reallocate power, mostly due to lack of political leverage to discipline entrenched local actors.
World Bank, Washington, DC eBooks, May 1, 2018
Some rights reserved. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do no... more Some rights reserved. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of the World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Jun 30, 2000
CeavOr cruption n-'capture.~of government officials. Only now are these relationhis bec*oming.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Mar 31, 2000
The World Bank eBooks, Jun 19, 2023
In 1996, the then president of the World Bank James Wolfenson stressed the malign effects of corr... more In 1996, the then president of the World Bank James Wolfenson stressed the malign effects of corruption on development, putting anticorruption on his institution’s agenda. Since then, the Bank and many other development institutions have focused on corruption and quality of government. This chapter reviews the different approaches taken to improve the quality of governments while fighting corruption: state structural reform, simplification and reduction of administrative discretion, transparency and accountability initiatives, international agreements and conventions, and specialized anticorruption bodies. This chapter reviews the effectiveness of these approaches and concludes that while there have been some successes, there is relatively little evidence of major improvement in aggregate levels of corruption. The reason for this lies in the political nature of corruption and the powerful incentives of elites to maintain the status quo. The limited impact of anticorruption efforts reflects the fact that the international donor community, often operating in an uncoordinated way, usually does not have the political leverage to shift these incentives.
Description of what it measures Data source availability and cost Poland, Romania, the Slovak Rep... more Description of what it measures Data source availability and cost Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia at the national level. Cost: High. The methodology would need to be extended to all EU MS with sample sizes that allow disaggregation at the sub-national level. 24. Fairness and impartiality of courts Measures the percentage of firms indicating that court system is fair, impartial and uncorrupted. Data source/coverage: BEEPS covering Bulgaria,
Description of what it measures Data source availability and cost Poland, Romania, the Slovak Rep... more Description of what it measures Data source availability and cost Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia at the national level. Cost: High. The methodology would need to be extended to all EU MS with sample sizes that allow disaggregation at the sub-national level. 24. Fairness and impartiality of courts Measures the percentage of firms indicating that court system is fair, impartial and uncorrupted. Data source/coverage: BEEPS covering Bulgaria,
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Nov 30, 2011
The World Bank eBooks, Nov 30, 1999
CeavOr cruption n-'capture.~of government officials. Only now are these relationhis bec*oming.
Unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are among the highest in the... more Unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are among the highest in the world, especially for young graduates. Policy recommendations to date in the field of governance for private sector policymaking have been too general and too removed from concrete, actionable policy outcomes. This report presents, for the first time to fill this policy and operational gap by answering the following question: what good governance features should be instilled in the design of economic policies and institutions to help shield them from capture, discretion, and arbitrary implementation? The report presents an innovative conceptual framework that encapsulates the governance features that can shield policies from capture, discretion, and arbitrary enforcement that limits competition. Based on this framework, a check-list of policy features in a wide range of policy areas relevant to private sector development policy is presented, notably in terms of: (i) the process of policy-making (ex-ante); (ii) the actual policies, regulations, and their implementation (for example, business regulations, procurement, financing, trade); and (iii) competition policy and other attributes like open-business and transparency measures that help identify, and prevent or deter anti-competitive market behavior and outcomes (ex-post). The report benchmarks eight countries along the framework and checklist of indicators, pointing, for each country, to policy gaps and poor governance features that make these countries prone to capture and discretion. The report offers a menu of operational and technical entry-points to engage the capture agenda in a concrete way, one that may be more politically tractable in some of the client countries.
The fight against corruption is a developmental imperative. While international efforts have achi... more The fight against corruption is a developmental imperative. While international efforts have achieved some significant results, they also illustrate the extent of the challenges that remain. A key lesson of experience is that tackling corruption needs to be waged simultaneously on two fronts: prevention and enforcement. Both approaches are complementary and self-reinforcing. The vast scale of illicit financial flows from the proceeds of corruption and the challenges associated with national and international asset recovery efforts call, in particular, for significant investments in prevention and a broadening of prevention tools. Income and asset disclosure (IAD) systems are gaining prominence as a tool in the fight against corruption, and have the potential to support efforts in both prevention and enforcement. This contribution is recognized in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and other international anticorruption agreements. Chapter one of this guides provides an overview of the objectives of IAD systems, identifies the relevant international anticorruption instruments, and provides a summary of key considerations that should influence the design, implementation, and enforcement of an IAD framework. Chapters two and three drill down into the design of IAD systems and address practical aspects of implementation.
Social Science Research Network, 2005
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encoura... more The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Corporate Ownership and Control, 2003
This paper explores the dynamics of enterprise restructuring in Russia since 1996 using newly ava... more This paper explores the dynamics of enterprise restructuring in Russia since 1996 using newly available firm-level data from official sources and from original individual business case studies carried out in Russia's regions. We assess empirically how the patterns of job creation and destruction are related to various aspects of enterprise restructuring across firms in different sectors and regions, and with different ownership forms, size, vintage, and performance characteristics. Our case-study evidence-based on more than 70 business visits-suggests that job destruction has taken place, but in some sectors and regions only to a limited degree, in large part due to institutional and incentive constraints and a still-widespread "socialist" corporate culture. The case studies also indicate job creation has materialized, particularly in sectors where the import-substitution effects of the 1998 ruble devaluation have been most pronounced. This case-study evidence is complemented by analysis of data provided by Goskomstat covering approximately 128,000 enterprises across 24 industrial sectors in all of the country's 89 regions for 1996-1999. These data suggest that in the aggregate the typical Russian firm has experienced only modest downsizing-about 12 percent-in terms of number of employees. We also find evidence of particular sectors where there has been new entry by smaller firms and exit by larger, mature businesses. Except for a lull in 1998, there has been a steady increase in the rate of job creation; at the same time, job destruction rates have been declining, with a substantial drop in the 1998-99 periods. Employment shifts between regions have steadily increased over time, but across sectors and firm ownership types, employment shifts are "u-shaped", with a pronounced decline in 1998. Firm size is found to be statistically correlated (positively) with profitability; yet restructuring through changes in net employment growth does not appear to be related statistically to profitability. This suggests that there are efficiency improvements needed in Russia's restructuring process.
Journal of Policy Reform, 2002
Corruption is now recognized to be a pervasive phenomenon that can seriously jeopardize the best-... more Corruption is now recognized to be a pervasive phenomenon that can seriously jeopardize the best-intentioned reform efforts. This paper presents an analytical framework for examining the role basic market institutions play in rent-seeking and illicit behavior. The empirical results suggest that high barriers to new business entry and soft budget constraints on incumbent firms are particularly important institutional factors engendering opportunities for corruption. The findings also support the notion that economic development and maturation of democratic processes both temper corruption, as does, to a lesser extent, openness to international trade.
Cross-country evidence has shown the negative impact of poor governance and corruption on citizen... more Cross-country evidence has shown the negative impact of poor governance and corruption on citizens and business people. Researchers and practitioners, however, need more disaggregated data for policy design, implementation, and monitoring. This chapter introduces an alternative methodology that allows institutions to be measured in a more disaggregated way using survey data to create indicators at the agency and sub-national levels. The experiential data used also allows the evaluation of the degree of implementation of regulations within public agencies rather than their quality. The chapter discusses two research applications that have shed light on the links between the quality of institutions, service delivery, and corruption. It also provides an overview of selected cases where these indicators have supported policy-makers in the design of governance reforms.
Social Science Research Network, 2000
ABSTRACT The transition from plan to market provides a rare opportunity for insight into the endo... more ABSTRACT The transition from plan to market provides a rare opportunity for insight into the endogenous development of economic institutions. Economic activities during the Soviet regime were co-ordinated by a central authority. These co-ordinating mechanisms were disrupted during the transition period, leading to an increase in the transaction costs for firms. Blanchard and Kremer (1997), among others, emphasise the negative impact of this "disorganisation" on output behaviour at the beginning of transition. Though this argument is correct, we believe that this and similar works stop short of a fuller characterisation of transition by concentrating only on the disruptive effects of the reform process. This paper begins where the former works end by examining one of the key institutions that have emerged spontaneously in response to the challenges of transition: business associations. Its main contribution is to provide empirical evidence that institutions that help co-ordinate production and trade spontaneously emerge in an environment characterised by widespread "disorganisation". Using a largely unexplored, firm-level data set, we document the emergence of business associations at the beginning of transition and provide evidence that these new co-ordinating institutions mitigated the initial output decline. Building on the growing literature on transaction costs and complexity, we interpret the emergence of these informal institutions as the firms' rational response to co-ordinate activities in a decentralised economy.
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Nov 30, 2011
A companion volume to the International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption published in 2006... more A companion volume to the International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption published in 2006, the specially commissioned papers in Volume Two present some of the best policy-oriented research in the field. They stress the institutional roots of corruption and include new research on topics ranging from corruption in regulation and procurement to vote buying and private firm payoffs.
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Papers by Francesca Recanatini