Governance and Economic Development

The main theme of this study is the political economy of policy reform in less developed countries and post-socialist countries. Given the complexity of economic development and transition, Ahrens views failures in policy reform, poor public sector management, rent-seeking, corruption and over-centralization as systematic, though not exclusive, instances of institutional failure. This interdisciplinary study looks for ways of constructing effective market-enhancing governance structures that provide appropriate incentive systems to cope with such failures. No blueprint is offered, but the book provides a conceptual governance framework that can be applied in a comparative way to ananlyse economic, political and social obstacles to policy and institutional reform. The concept is not only used to analyse the politico-institutional foundation of policy reform in East Asia and Eastern Europe, but it also allows elaboration of country specific stategies to craft institutional safeguards that help overcome impediments to development and transition.