Thesis advisor: Robert Murphy / In this paper, I explore the connection between governance and economic growth. Economic growth has been a phenomenon experienced by some countries, but totally lacking in others. This paper explores the role of governance on growth, utilizing the governance indicators developed by the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators project. I develop a model that is a synthesis of the Solow Growth Model, as well as the growth models developed by Burnside and Dollar (2000) and Kaufmann and Kraay (2002). My results conclude that governance is linked with economic growth through two channels: first, governance and economic growth are positively correlated with each other; and secondly, good governance positively affects trade and investment, which then is positively associated with the growth of GDP per capita. Thus, good governance should be of the utmost concern for countries attempting to achieve growth of GDP per capita. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

The thesis contains three main Chapters in which the relationship between organised crime and corruption is studied from different perspectives. Chapter 2 presents a theoretical framework for analyzing the interactions between corruption and organized crime, together with the individual and combined effect of these phenomena on economic performance. We show how organized crime on its own reduces entrepreneurial activity, and how organized crime in conjunction with corruption may reduce such activity to a lesser or greater extent. Chapter 3 presents an empirical investigation into the impact of corruption on economic growth in the presence of organized criminal activities. Using a panel of 19 Italian regions for the period 1983-2009, the analysis reveals that corruption and organized crime have independent negative effects on growth, and that the effect of either is less severe when the other is also present. Chapter 4 presents a further empirical investigation which examines the determinants of organized crime and of common crime in a panel of Italian regions over the period 1983-2003. The analysis shows that both organized and common crimes respond symmetrically to certain drivers, but asymmetrically to others.

A main objective of my diploma paper is analysis of different growth strategies of economic policy in two africain countries in the time of their independency. The focus of this paper will be devoted to comparison of growth factors from the point of institucional economics. These factors will be investigated together with both economics -- Senegal and Kenya in 1960s and 1970s in connection with different colonial policies of Great Britain and France. In the final part, I 'd like to make some perspective strategies of both economic policies from the point of institutional economics.

Plus d'un demi-siècle d'histoire des faits et d'initiatives de transformation socioéconomique des pays d'Afrique subsaharienne est marqué principalement de débris d'économies. Par conséquent, le phénomène d' « absence de développement » dans la plupart des pays sous-développés s'expliquent davantage par l'incapacité et/ou la difficulté à créer, à promouvoir les institutions propices au développement des échanges. C'est pourquoi l'émergence d'un nouvel axe de recherches sur les institutions étudiant un autre volet, un autre élément de la croissance économique est l'objet de cette thèse. Les O.S.C. de base et la Décentralisation sont des opportunités de changement d'ordre dans le développement institutionnel qui battraient en brèche la « rigidité institutionnelle archaïco-chronique » et qui ne pourraient que favoriser l'harmonie entre institutions (formelles et informelles) et le développement économique local dans les pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, en particulier au Mali. La méthode suivie pour les atteindre procède de l'apport des courants institutionnalistes dans l'analyse du développement et les théories du fédéralisme financier. Cette thèse a tenté de démontrer qu'il est indispensable a priori d'avoir une cohérence dans la formation et l'application des dispositions et règles institutionnelles ; de savoir que l'exercice d'une compétence suppose au préalable l'existence des capacités nécessaires à la bonne exécution de celle-ci qu'elles soient humaines, matérielles, financières…; et d'apprendre à mieux connaître les sociétés en évaluant les idiosyncrasies des acteurs locaux qui initient des plans d'action en fonction de leurs préférences et réalités. / More than half a century of history of facts and initiatives of socio-economic transformation of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa is marked in most cases with rubbish of economics lag behind. As a result, the phenomenon of « absence of development » in the most part of the underdeveloped countries explain more by inability and/or the difficulty in creating, promoting institutions advantageous for the development of exchanges which would follow prosperity. Reason why the emergence of a new research based on Institutions studying another shutter, another element of economic growth is the object of this thesis. The OCS and the Decentralization are change appropriatenesses of order in institutional development which would beat in hole the « archaico-chronic institutional inflexibility » and who could only favor harmony between institutions (formal and informal) and local economic development in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Mali. The method followed to attain them is a product of the contribution of institutionalists' currents in the analysis of development and the theories of financial federalism. This thesis has tried to show that it's necessary a priori to have a coherence in formation and application of institutional arrangements and rules; to know that the exercise of a competence assumes in anticipation the existence of capacities necessary for the good execution of this whatever they are human, material, financial…; to learn to know societies better by assessing the intricacy of their environment, and therefore the idiosyncrasy of the local actors who initiate plans of action according to their preferences and realities.

Questo lavoro analizza la relazione tra crescita economica e rischio-socio politico in un campione di 159 paesi per 30 anni. Il principale risultato è che l'instabilità socio-politica diminuisce la crescita mentre l'effetto della crescita sull'instabilità non è statisticamente significativo. Inoltre si evidenzia una relazione negativa tra inflazione e crescita, ma questo collegamento è mediato dal canale dell'instabilità socio-politica. / This paper tests the relationship between economic growth and socio-political instability on a large sample of 159 countries over 30 years, from 1970 through 2000. After a meticulous analysis performed with system estimates, modern econometric techniques that detect endogeneity and a detailed battery of robustness tests I find that socio-political risk decreases economic growth. as regard the other causality link from economic growth to instability, this effect is instead not statistically significant. In addiction a negative relationship between inflation and growth emerges but this link is mediated by the channel of socio-political instability.