This paper argues that a popular demand for a strong leader with little legislative oversight is likely to emerge in a context of weak public protection of property rights, whereby the rich elites can expropriate the poor. While lax oversight causes diversion of public resources by the leader, it also provides him with incentives to restrain the rent-seeking advantage of the rich, thereby increasing investments and in turn generating perceived benefits for the poor.
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This paper asserts that corruption in Asia can be minimised only if political leaders are willing to impartially implement effective anticorruption strategies. These include paying civil servants adequate salaries, reducing opportunities for corruption in wet agencies by cutting red tape and unnecessary regulation, improving the supervision of civil servants in vulnerable positions, and increasing the probability of detecting and punishing corrupt individuals.
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'This paper, gives and overview of the illicit drug trade in the Western Hemisphere. These countries are diverse, but all are affected – to varying degrees – by drugs and related crime. In Latin America in particular, the people of this region identify economic issues and crime as their two greatest problems, and the two issues are deeply interrelated, because crime and corruption are derailing economic development in some instances. Countries such as Venezuela, Guatemala, and El Salvador se more...
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A task force established to ferret out corruption in UN purchasing practices was to report on Thursday the details of five new cases involving about $20 million in contracts to the General Assembly, as well as preliminary details of eight other inquiries.
The report, covering July 2007 to July 2008, includes several allegations of UN employees' steering contracts to close relatives or to vendors involved in kickback schemes. The report from the Procurement Task Force was released just three mon more...
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'Complex tax systems cut tax revenues for government and make it very hard to assess the true tax burden on firms, says a new report launched by the World Bank Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The report presents quantitative indicators on the tax rates, payment frequency, and time to comply with taxes compared across 175 economies - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Top reformers are identified and best practices in how to reform tax regulations are highlighted. This report gives policymakers more...
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'This publication from the Independent Evaluation Group examines IFC and the World Bank's support for environmental sustainability from 1990 to 2007.
While there are difficulties in comparing the experience in the public and private sectors, the report assesses the Bank Group's effectiveness as a whole. It also attempts to identify the main constraints and suggests ways to enhance the Bank Group's effectiveness in coming years.'
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'The OPEN system publishes on the Internet an array of information relating to municipal government services, permits and licenses.'
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