Human Development Index in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia: Does Good Governance Matter?

Ben Katoka; Kim, Sung-soo (김성수)

Human Development Index in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia: Does Good Governance Matter?

Civil Society and NGO
2020, 18(1), pp.167~202
Publisher : The Third Sector Institute
Research Area : Social Science > Social Science in general > Other Social Science in general
Received : March 12, 2020
Accepted : May 20, 2020
Published : May 31, 2020

Ben Katoka ¹, Kim, Sung-soo ²

¹한국외국어대학교
²한양대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) requires explaining whether, why, and how it responds differently to particular variables (i.e., institutional) compared to other developing regions. This study contributes to this exercise and adds to the recent research comparing development processes and outcomes between SSA and Southeast Asia (SEA). According to these studies, based on SEA experience, good governance “as defined by donors” should not be regarded as a prerequisite for development success in SSA. This study calls this view into question by examining the relationship between governance and development performance in SSA and SEA from 1995–2015. It defines good governance according to the governance effectiveness (GE) indicator of the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators. It focuses on development performance as progress in the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Program. It uses the hybrid (or within-between) random effects model, which accounts for heterogeneity. The study finds a positive and significant association between improvements in GE in a given period and development progress in the subsequent period. The results also reveal considerable variations in the relationship between governance and development across countries, suggesting the importance of context. The paper concludes by providing some recommendations for institutional reform and further research on governance and development.

KEYWORDS

Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, governance, development, human development index.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2024 are currently being built.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

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