by D. Kaufmann, A. Kraay, and P. Zoido-Lobatón (1999)

Recent interest in the consequences of governance for development outcomes has been accompanied by a proliferation of data measuring aspects of governance. This paper describes a new database containing over 300 governance indicators compiled from a variety of sources. The paper provides a detailed description of each of these indicators and sources, and constructs six aggregate indicators corresponding to six basic governance concepts. Governance, as measured by these indicators, matters. In a cross-section of over 150 countries, we provide new empirical evidence of a strong causal relationship between better governance and better development outcomes.

Note: The updated indicators for 1996–2004, available in May 2005, supersede the previously posted indicators for 1998 and 2000.

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