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23 Cato J. 403 (2003-2004)
Measuring Bad Governance

handle is hein.journals/catoj23 and id is 413 raw text is: MEASURING BAD GOVERNANCE Evan Osborne One of the most compelling features of postwar economic history is the continued prevalence of global poverty. Its intransigence is striking given the fact that development has been one of the main items on the international agenda since the end of World War II. The United Nations has numerous branches devoted entirely to reducing poverty, and both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have spent billions of dollars to promote development. Many wealthy nations also have government departments devoted to devel- opment assistance, and the amount of cash and in-kind transfers these countries have disbursed over the years is substantial. After over half a century of such efforts, success has been scattered and slow, especially given the optimism that was so prevalent in the 1950s. If a dollar a day or less in income is used as the standard of poverty, the United Nations (2002) reports that the percentage of poor people in all developing countries fell between 1987 and 1999 from 28 to 24 percent, but very unevenly. A recent estimate suggested that almost half the world's population lives on less than two dollars a day (Duraippah 2000), and progress has varied tremendously by region. East Asia, particularly China, has showed dramatic progress, and India has advanced modestly since the early 1990s. But much of Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa has shown very little improve- ment. In addition, many nations that were once thought to be poten- tial stars of development, such as Argentina and Brazil, have struggled mightily during most of the postwar period, even as other nations such as Singapore, Mauritius, and Chile have had unexpected success. What might account for this pattern of long-term, widespread fail- ure combined with isolated but dramatic success? While the 1990s saw the emergence of the Washington consensus, the belief that Cato Journal, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Winter 2004). Copyright 0 Cato Institute. All rights reserved. Evan Osborne is Associate Professor of Economics at Wright State University. He gratefully acknowledges the support of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Osaka Uni- versity, where much of the research for this study was completed. 403

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