Civil Liberties, Democracy, and the Performance of Government Projects
利用世界银行资助的政府投资项目跨国数据，发现公民自由越强的国家，项目经济回报率越高，且这种效应独立于民主水平，可能机制是公民自由增强公民发声从而改善项目。
This article uses a cross-national data set on the performance of government investment projects financed by the World Bank to examine the link between government efficacy and governance. It demonstrates a strong empirical link between civil liberties and the performance of government of projects. Even after controlling for other determinants of performance, countries with the strongest civil liberties have projects with an economic rate of return 8–22 percentage points higher than countries with the weakest civil liberties. The strong effect of civil liberties holds true even when controlling for the level of democracy. The interrelationship among civil liberties, civil strife, and project performance suggests that the possible mechanism of causation is from more civil liberties to increased citizen voice to better projects. This result adds to the evidence for the view that increasing citizen voice and public accountability—through both participation and better governance—can lead to greater efficacy in government action.