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A new measure of cross-national corruption is constructed based on the geographic distribution of public officials involved in cross-border corruption cases. A comparison is made between the Public Administration Corruption Index (PACI) and perception-based measures, considers the extent to which differences between them are driven by systematic factors, and concludes that they are not. As more data on cases of cross-border bribery incidents become available, the PACI will provide an increasingly valid cross-national measure of corruption.

Bribery --- Corruption --- Corruption & anticorruption law --- Crime and society --- Judicial statistics --- Law and development --- Measures of corruption --- Public sector corruption and anticorruption measure --- Public sector development --- Social development

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Economic theory predicts that a rise in police presence will reduce criminal activity. However several studies in the literature have found mixed results. This study adds to the literature by exploring the relationship between the size of the police force and crime experienced by firms. Using survey data for about 12,000 firms in a cross-section of 27 developing countries, the study finds that increasing the size of the police force is negatively associated with crime experienced by firms. The results are confirmed using a panel of firms for a subset of countries for which data are available. The study also finds that this negative relationship is stronger under certain macro-economic circumstances.

Crime --- Development --- Firms --- Gender --- Gender & Law --- Governance --- Governance Indicators --- Law and Development --- Law Enforcement Systems --- Police Size --- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measure --- Public Sector Development

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Financial regulation affects government revenue whenever it imposes both the mandatory quantity and price of government bonds. This paper studies a banking regulation adopted by the National Bank of Ethiopia in April 2011, which forces all private banks to purchase a fixed negative-yield government bond in proportion to private sector lending. Having access to monthly bank balance sheets, a survey of branch costs and public finances documentation, the effect of the policy on government revenue can be tracked. This is compared to three plausible revenue-generating alternatives: raising funds at competitive rates on international markets; distorting the private lending of the state-owned bank; and raising new deposits through additional branches of the state-owned bank. Three main results emerge: the government revenue gain is moderate (1.5-2.6 percent of the tax revenue); banks comply with the policy and amass more safe assets; banks' profit growth slows without turning negative (from 10 percent to 2 percent).

Banks and banking reform --- Debt markets --- Finance and financial sector development --- Macroeconomics and economic growth --- Public sector corruption and anticorruption measure --- Public sector development

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The present study combines data from Mexico's employment surveys (Encuesta Nacional de Empleo and Encuesta Nacional de Ocupacion y Empleo) with the country's official statistics on murder rates to create a state-level panel data set covering the period 1995 to 2013. Including most of the common controls identified by the literature, the results show that the rate of male youth ages 19 to 24 not studying and out of work (the so-called ninis), is not correlated with homicide rates during the period 1995 to 2006. However, there is evidence that a positive correlation between male ninis and murder rates arises between 2007 and 2013, a period during which murder rates in Mexico increased threefold. The association between ninis and homicide rates is stronger in states located along the border with the United States, a region particularly affected by organized crime and the international financial crisis of 2008-09.

Adolescent Health --- Children and Youth --- Crime and Society --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Nafta --- Ninis --- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measure --- Public Sector Development --- Social Development --- Violence

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The dynamism of air traffic markets in the Middle East obscures the persistence of restrictions on international competition. But how important are such restrictions for passenger traffic? This paper uses detailed data on worldwide passenger aviation to estimate the effect of air transport policy on international air traffic. The policy variable is a quantitative measure of the commitments under international agreements. The paper analyzes, for the first time, not only bilateral agreements, but also plurilateral agreements such as the one between Arab states. The analysis finds that more liberal policy is associated with greater passenger traffic between countries. Higher traffic levels appear to be driven primarily by larger numbers of city pairs being served, rather than by more passengers traveling along given routes. To demonstrate the quantitative implication of the estimates, two liberalization scenarios in the Middle East are evaluated. Deepening the plurilateral agreement among Arab states would lead to a 30 percent increase in intraregional passenger traffic. Widening the agreement to include Turkey would generate significantly larger gains because current policy vis-`-vis Turkey is much more restrictive.

Air Quality & Clean Air --- Air Service Agreements --- Air Transport --- Airports & Air Services --- Environment --- Plurilateral Agreements --- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measure --- Public Sector Development --- Roads & Highways --- Services Liberalization --- Transport --- Transport Economics Policy and Planning