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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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October 23, 2009When the Culture of Disbursement Meets the Culture of CorruptionPosted by William Savedoff in Corruption, Global Development, World Bank Tags: Corruption
11 Comments »July 6, 2009Obama Right to Highlight Ghana’s Success, But Will Oil Be the Spoiler?Posted by Todd Moss in Global Development Tags: Corruption, Democracy, Ghana, Governance, Natural Resources, Oil
6 Comments »June 9, 2009What Would Barack Obama Be Like If He Was Still President in 2051? Ask GabonPosted by Todd Moss in Global Development, Governance/Democracy, Regions Tags: Corruption, Gabon, Human Rights, RegionsWhat would Barack Obama be like if he was still president in 2051? We would expect that despite whatever initial good intentions, that four decades in power would inevitably give way to entrenched corruption, mindless sycophancy, and probably destroy our democracy. Such an outcome is not only barred by the U.S. constitution, but sounds like an absurd question today. Read More… 1 Comment »May 26, 2009Nuhu Ribadu, Nigerian Corruption Fighter, in the HousePosted by Lawrence MacDonald in Global Development Tags: Corruption, Democracy, Governance, Natural Resources, NigeriaNuhu Ribadu, the former anti-corruption czar of Nigeria, is no longer on the job, but is still fighting the good fight. Nuhu was profiled in the Washington Post Outlook section, and explained why corruption “is the reason why Africa is Africa today.” Nuhu also testified to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services late last week.
Read the full testimony here. Nuhu is now also in our house: We are honored to have Nuhu as a visiting fellow here at CGD. He will be spending the reminder of this year drawing lessons from his experience for other countries and for agencies like the World Bank. His work will build on our past research on corruption, including Ted Moran’s Combating Corrupt Payments. (Also, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala gave the 2007 Sabot Lecture on corruption, presciently calling our attention to the scourge of “political corruption.”) Comment »May 22, 2009Is China Losing Interest in Africa?Posted by Vijaya Ramachandran in Asia, Global Development, Globalization, Private Investment, Regions Tags: China, Corruption, Foreign Direct Investment, RegionsLast week, the Aluminum Corp. of China, otherwise known as Chinalco, received regulatory approval to proceed with its investment of $19.5 billion in the Australian-based mining giant Rio Tinto, giving the Chinese access to a large and secure supply of iron ore, copper, aluminium and other resources in Australia and Latin America. Is this a signal that China is losing interest in Africa? Or that African governments are becoming disenchanted with their Chinese partners? If so, what are the policy implications, particularly with regard to investments in infrastructure? Read More… Comment »March 25, 2009Dambisa Moyo Discovers Key to Ending PovertyPosted by David Roodman in Aid Effectiveness, Global Development, Regions Tags: Corruption, ZimbabweLast month I blogged a New York Times interview with Dambisa Moyo, whom the paper aptly dubbed the “Anti-Bono.” A youngish woman who grew up in Zambia and holds degrees from Harvard and Oxford, she launches a frontal assault on foreign assistance in her new book, Dead Aid. For her, ODA is DOA. I worried in my post about her simplistic interview answers, which implied that aid has nothing to do with microfinance even though donors helped make it what it is today. I ended carefully:
Well, I did, and she doesn’t. (Her publicist sent us a copy, so we got the Anti-Bono pro bono.) The book is sporadically footnoted, selective in its use of facts, sloppy, simplistic, illogical, and stunningly naive. Read More… 5 Comments »January 15, 2009Advice to Obama’s Africa Team: Don’t Change Too MuchPosted by Todd Moss in Africa, Regions Tags: CorruptionThe following commentary originally appeared on the impressive new global news site, GlobalPost 2 Comments »January 15, 2009Global Development Prominent in Clinton Confirmation HearingPosted by Sarah Jane Staats in Global Development, Migration and Labor Mobility, Modernizing U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: Corruption, On the Hill
2 Comments »January 12, 2009No Free Lunch Needed When the Issue Is CorruptionPosted by Kimberly Ann Elliott in Corruption, Global Development Tags: CorruptionPerhaps it is because people interested in combating corruption in resource-rich countries are of impeccable ethics themselves, but it took only the smallest of “bribes” — cookies, but no lunch — to draw a packed house in freezing weather to CGD today to discuss the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Most readers of this blog are likely aware of the challenges that the “resource curse” poses for developing countries with weak institutions, where all too often much of the revenue from oil, gas, or other mineral exports is siphoned off by corrupt officials. Susan Aaronson kicked things off with a presentation on her paper investigating how the EITI could be a useful tool for governments make the difficult effort to improve governance, broadly defined. She also argues that, if implemented effectively, the EITI can create a positive feedback loop whereby civil society becomes more engaged in monitoring the government and reducing the opportunities for corruption. 1 Comment »January 12, 2009Who Will Index the Indexers? Think Tank Ranking in Foreign Policy MagazinePosted by David Roodman in Commitment to Development Index, Global Development Tags: Commitment to Development Index, Corruption, On the HillOn January 5, the University of Pennsylvania’s International Relations Program and Foreign Policy magazine released a first-ever ranking of think tanks. Penn’s James McGann, the author, calls it the “The Global Go-To Think Tank” index and Foreign Policy, simply the “The Think Tank Index.” A think tank, in case you were wondering, is a “a group or an institution organized for intensive research and solving of problems, especially in the areas of technology, social or political strategy, or armament.” The irony did not escape us at CGD: our own Commitment to Development Index was born in the pages of FP; now FP would rate us. 3 Comments »December 5, 2008U.S. Smart Sanctions against Zimbabwe Just Got a Bit SmarterPosted by Todd Moss in Africa, Regions Tags: CorruptionAs Zimbabwe continues to collapse, most of the world’s attention has been on the cholera outbreak , a painful (and thoroughly avoidable) reminder of how far the once-thriving country has fallen. Cholera, which has reportedly killed at least 560 people so far (a number certain to grow) seems to have even grabbed attention among South African officials who have so far been satisfied to allow the problem to languish under the listless mediation of ex-President Thabo Mbeki. Comment »July 1, 2008On Zimbabwe: How Do the Worst Leaders Affect Development?Posted by Michael Clemens in Africa, Regions, Zimbabwe Tags: Corruption, ZimbabweOne of the great underexplored areas in economic development research is rigorous investigation of how bad leaders affect development. A series of actions by Robert Mugabe’s regime have coincided with an epic collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy, erasing half a century of income growth and bringing on four million percent inflation. In a country where large numbers of poor people live on the edge of subsistence, such a collapse is likely to cause large numbers of deaths. But how can we really know that Mugabe is the cause of his people’s ills, when his mouthpieces claim that drought or shadowy foreign meddling is at fault? Read More… 2 Comments »June 18, 2008Kofi Annan’s Unusual Approach to the Crisis in ZimbabwePosted by Vijaya Ramachandran in Africa, Corruption, Regions, Zimbabwe Tags: Corruption, ZimbabweIn today’s Financial Times, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan makes a strong case for collective action on the situation in Zimbabwe. Mr Annan argues that “if the government, which many claim to be the author of violence, cannot ensure a fair vote, Africa must hold it accountable. The victor of an unfair vote must be under no illusions: he will neither have the legitimacy to govern, nor receive the support of the international community.” 2 Comments »May 15, 2008Be Careful What You Wish for: Fighting Corruption Is Good, But Not If It Means Stopping Development AssistancePosted by Administrator in Corruption, Governance/Democracy, United Nations, World Bank Tags: Corruption, World BankSenators Lugar and Bayh are again on the anticorruption warpath. Yesterday they issued a press release calling for “a Government Accounting Office (GAO) probe of the World Bank’s anticorruption efforts.” They want to make sure that the U.S.’s $950 million contribution to the International Development Association is not being “misspent and enriching corrupt foreign regimes.” Certainly sounds reasonable, but is this really the right focus for a review of World Bank operations? In the chapter I wrote (along with Ted Moran) for The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President, a forthcoming CGD publication, I argue that it is not. I make three points in the chapter that bear on the Lugar-Bayh proposal. Comment »January 29, 2008Giving Suharto His DuePosted by Administrator in Asia, Corruption, Global Education Tags: CorruptionI was of two minds as to whether or not to join in the analysis of Suharto’s legacy, but I decided that I cannot let stand some of what I have read about Suharto, Indonesia’s strongman president for 31 years, who died on Sunday at the age of 86. For those who don’t know me: I was the World Bank’s country director in Jakarta from 1994 to 1999. I was present during Indonesia’s financial crisis and when Suharto was forced out of office in May, 1998. I can’t say that Suharto and I were close, but I met him many times, and, to the extent that any outsider can ever really know a Javanese, I believe I knew something of what made him tick. 3 Comments »January 17, 2008Folsom’s Departure Creates Opening to Fix The World Bank Fight Against CorruptionPosted by Administrator in Asia, Corruption, Global Education, World Bank Tags: Corruption, World BankSuzanne Rich Folsom, the controversial head of the World Bank’s internal anti-corruption unit, resigned yesterday to return to the private sector. With Ms. Folsom’s departure almost all of Paul Wolfowitz’s inner circle has now left the Bank. I expect that some of the Bank’s critics will cast this turn of events as victory of the bank bureaucracy over the forces of good in a fight for truth, justice, the American way, and, most especially, zero corruption. This would be an unfortunate misrepresentation of reality. 1 Comment »January 2, 2008Bring Back Nuhu Ribadu: Nigeria’s Dedicated Corruption FighterPosted by Administrator in Africa, Corruption, Governance/Democracy, Regions, United Nations Tags: Corruption
Nuhu Ribadu visited CGD last October, while he was still the executive chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). For an hour and a half he held a room full of hardened development types spellbound. He came across as articulate, professional, extraordinarily committed…and incredibly brave. He talked of taking on Nigeria’s corruption kingpins, of how he was determined to show that no one, no matter how powerful, how well-connected, was above the law. But unlike most of us, Nuhu did more than talk. He acted. As we left the room at the end of his presentation, I remember wondering to a colleague how long Nuhu would last. We now have the answer: as of end 2007, Nuhu Ribadu is no longer the executive chairman of Nigeria’s top anti-corruption body. Comment »November 19, 2007A Report from the Trenches on the First Few Days of CGD’s CARMAPosted by Lawrence MacDonald in Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Migration and Labor Mobility Tags: Corruption
Within 36 hours of its launch CARMA attracted more than 150,000 visits, twice the traffic hosted by the CGD main site in the entire month of October, and generated more than 200 mainstream media reports and a similar number of blog postings. Coverage ranged from the prestigious science magazine Nature to the liberal blog Daily Kos. Juliet Eilperin, reporting in the Washington Post, was among the first reporters to seek comment from utility companies identified in CARMA as major sources of CO2 pollution, including Southern Co., the biggest CO2 polluter in the United States, and the sixth biggest source of CO2 emissions in the world. Strikingly, the companies did not dispute CARMA’s findings. 1 Comment »October 22, 2007Former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano Wins the $5 Million-Plus Mo Ibrahim Prize Partly for NOT Seeking a Third TermPosted by Vijaya Ramachandran in Africa, Regions Tags: CorruptionIn London today, Kofi Annan announced Joaquim Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, as the first winner of the largest award in the world–the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The award consists of $5 million over 10 years and US$200,000 annually for life, as well as up to $200,000 a year for 10 years “towards the winner’s public interest activities and good causes”. President Chissano was praised for putting his country on a path towards peace and democracy and for a variety of economic reforms. He was also commended for NOT seeking a third term. The prize is funded by the UK based telcom entrepreneur, Mo Ibrahim, who sold his pan-African company CelTel to Kuwait-based MTC for $3.4 billion in 2005. 2 Comments »October 5, 2007The End of An African Nightmare: Steve Radelet Writes from LiberiaPosted by Steve Radelet in Africa, Regions Tags: Corruption
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A few month’s ago, Ruth Levine recommended that I read Steve Berkman’s book “
President Obama’s 
Development was a prominent theme in Tuesday’s Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of State–designate. Hillary Rodham Clinton mentioned “development assistance” or “development aid” roughly three times more than outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did during her confirmation hearing in January 2005. And members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee expressed more interest in the topic, with mentions of these terms up by half compared to the January 2005 hearing (
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