The 2008-2009 Global Crisis and Governance

In this study, we examine the impact of the 2008-2009 Global Crisis on Governance. We focus on the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (i.e. WGI) which includes six dimensions of governance. These six dimensions are “Voice and Accountability”, “Political Stability and Absence of Violence”, “Government Effectiveness”, “Regulatory Quality”, “Rule of Law”, and “Control of Corruption”. We find that, due to the crisis, the world suffered in terms of “Voice and Accountability” and “Political Stability and Absence of Violence” scores. On the other hand, we are seeing that the governments around the world reacted fast and improved “Government Effectiveness”, “Regulatory Quality”, and “Rule of Law” after the crisis. This process continued through year 2011 and beyond. In terms of “Control of Corruption”, there have been ups and downs, but the overall trend is down, which indicates that the governments, on average, have not been willing to or effective in controlling corruption.