Public Information and Performance: The Role of Spatial Dependence in the Worldwide Governance Indicators among African Countries

The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) provide transparent and comparable country statistics for different dimensions of governance linked to (under)development. Yet, does the public availability of governance data actually enhance performance? If investors, donor agencies, and citizens are made aware of relative governance performance, competition for inward investment, such as FDI and ODA, and domestic legitimacy become plausible mechanisms for diffusion of good governance. We test whether such mechanisms operate using the WGI for Africa, and find evidence for spatial diffusion of democracy, rule of law, and corruption control. There is no evidence for diffusion of regulatory quality and government effectiveness.