Cabinet size and governance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Wehner, Joachim and Mills, Linnea (2021) Cabinet size and governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Governance. ISSN 0952-1895 (In Press)

Text (Cabinet Size and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 January 2100. Download (1MB) | Request a copy

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Abstract

There is frequent public and media concern over the cost of bloated cabinets in many Sub-Saharan African countries. Scholarship on elite clientelism links cabinet positions with corruption and practices that undermine sound policy making. This paper presents new data on the number of ministers in African governments and documents a robust negative association with several measures of governance, both across countries and in a regression framework that exploits within-country variation over time and accounts for various potential confounders. This suggests policy makers, donors, investors, and citizens should pay close attention to the number of ministers appointed to the cabinet. Although the paper cautions against simplistic policy prescriptions, a sizable increase in the number of ministers is likely bad news for governance.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14680491
Additional Information:	© 2021 Wiley Periodicals, LLC
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General)
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2021 15:27
Last Modified:	21 Jan 2021 09:24
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108407

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