State political and economic capacities and the quality of government in Asia

This study analyzes the impacts of state political and economic capacities on the quality of government in 40 Asian countries. Quality of government data for 2002 and 2010 were obtained from four elements of the World Bank Governance Index, and the same or closest year's data for political and economic capacity were collected from other well-known indices. The analysis reveals that economic growth influences four elements in both developed and developing countries, although the effects of economic freedom differ between these two groups of states. While political capacity (i.e. civil empowerment, democracy, and press freedom) is found to have an effect on all four of the governance elements in developed countries, it influences just two elements in developing economies. Thus, the results suggest that the quality of government in Asia is not only improved by economic capacity but might also be enhanced by consolidation of democracy, particularly once a certain degree of economic development is achieved