During my work on my latest book on Money Laundering & Financing of Terrorism, I read a lot on Governance at a country level. Further, there is sufficient data that establishes the strong correlation between Corporate Governance and the Governance of a country. For instance, issues such Cronyism, Tax collections, Fiscal Deficit, Conflict of Interest, Rule of Law (Obstruction of justice), Non-performing loans, Collateral valuation, Loan recovery & bankruptcy in the corporate sector are strongly correlated to the Governance of a country.
I also noticed that countries such as New Zealand have implemented a National Integrity System. One of the positive spin offs of an implementation of such a system is the increased transparency & accountability in political and corporate spheres. The governance of countries in the Nordic region is another good example.
http://www.transparency.org.nz/National-Integrity-System-Assessment
I wish to submit that factors that determine Good Governance could be built into Sovereign Credit Rating. This would bring the focus the quality in the implementation of national government programs/projects and the quality of private/public sector participation in it.
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