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Can Governance Indicators Make Sense? Towards a New Approach to Sector-Specific Measures of Governance

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  • Matt Andrews
  • Roger Hay
  • Jerrett Myers

Abstract

Governance indicators have come under fire in recent years, especially the World Governance Indicators. Critics present these indicators as atheoretical and biased. Critics of the critics counter that no better alternatives exist. The authors suggest otherwise, arguing that more appropriate “governance” indicators will: have theoretical grounding; focus on specific fields of engagement; emphasize outcomes; and control for key contextual differences in comparing countries. Such constructs can help indicate where countries seem to have governance problems, allowing second-stage analyses of where and what these problems are; they do not directly point to the presence or nature of problems or provide a measure of the governance concept. Under-5 mortality rates adjusted for country income groups are shown as an example of such a measure, and data presented for contextually compared outcomes in this specific field to show where governance seems better and worse. The USA is shown up as relatively weak, whereas a country such as Pakistan seems to have better governance in this sector than other low-income countries. The indicator has its weaknesses and is partly presented as an illustrative example of a new approach, but also allows questions about why governance of this sector might be problematic in certain contexts and easier in others.

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  • Matt Andrews & Roger Hay & Jerrett Myers, 2010. "Can Governance Indicators Make Sense? Towards a New Approach to Sector-Specific Measures of Governance," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 391-410.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:38:y:2010:i:4:p:391-410
    DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2010.524696
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    Cited by:

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    2. Aleksandra Maksimovska & Aleksandar Stojkov, 2019. "Composite Indicator of Social Responsiveness of Local Governments: An Empirical Mapping of the Networked Community Governance Paradigm," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 669-706, July.
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    4. Ciccone, Dana Karen & Vian, Taryn & Maurer, Lydia & Bradley, Elizabeth H., 2014. "Linking governance mechanisms to health outcomes: A review of the literature in low- and middle-income countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 86-95.
    5. Gisselquist, Rachel M., 2013. "Evaluating Governance Indexes: Critical and Less Critical Questions," WIDER Working Paper Series 068, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Paulo Caldas & Diogo Cunha Ferreira & Brian Dollery & Rui Cunha Marques, 2018. "Municipal Sustainability Influence by European Union Investment Programs on the Portuguese Local Government," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-23, March.
    7. Tajammal Hussain & Rick Edgeman & Jacob Eskildsen & Alaa Mohamed Shoukry & Showkat Gani, 2018. "Sustainable Enterprise Excellence: Attribute-Based Assessment Protocol," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-13, November.
    8. Abdullah Erkul & İbrahim Külünk, 2022. "Vulnerable employment in developing economies: The case of sub‐Saharan African countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(3), pages 381-394, September.
    9. Matt Andrews, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," CID Working Papers 281, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    10. Andrews, Matt, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," Working Paper Series rwp14-022, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    11. Rachel M. Gisselquist, 2013. "Evaluating Governance Indexes: Critical and Less Critical Questions," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-068, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Obadiah Jonathan Gimba & Abdulkareem Alhassan & Huseyin Ozdeser & Wafa Ghardallou & Mehdi Seraj & Ojonugwa Usman, 2023. "Towards low carbon and sustainable environment: does income inequality mitigate ecological footprints in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 10425-10445, September.

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