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Institutional Quality, Governance and Progress towards the SDGs

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  • Edward B. Barbier

    (Department of Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1771, USA)

  • Joanne C. Burgess

    (Department of Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1771, USA)

Abstract

Whether institutional quality and governance help or hinder progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of UN Agenda 2030 is an important issue to consider. These fundamental social structures are generally under-represented among the SDGs, but institutional quality and governance often have an important role in supporting or constraining efforts to achieve sustainable development. We compare estimates of the changes in net welfare that reflect progress towards the 17 SDGs over 2000–2018 with two institutional quality and governance indicators over the same period. We do this at the world level, for the group of low-income countries and for nine representative developing countries. We utilize the Worldwide Governance Indicators and OECD’s Country Risk Classification as our two institutional quality and governance measures. We find that SDG welfare gains are somewhat correlated with institutional quality and highly correlated with lower country risk. These results suggest that good governance and institutional effectiveness are associated with long-run development and sustainability success. Long-term progress towards the SDGs may hinge on improved institutional quality and reduced country risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward B. Barbier & Joanne C. Burgess, 2021. "Institutional Quality, Governance and Progress towards the SDGs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-11, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11798-:d:664653
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    Cited by:

    1. Beata Bieszk-Stolorz & Krzysztof Dmytrów, 2023. "Decent Work and Economic Growth in EU Countries—Static and Dynamic Analyses of Sustainable Development Goal 8," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Flavia Massuga & Marcos Aurélio Larson & Marcos Roberto Kuhl & Sérgio Luis Dias Doliveira, 2024. "The influence of global governance on the sustainable performance of countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 28567-28589, November.
    3. Ahmad Saad Gillani & Durdana Qaiser Gillani, 2023. "Sector Specific Aid Inflow, Institutional Quality and Human Development in Selected Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Impact, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 5(1), pages 64-68.

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