Bureaucratic Effects: 'Weberian' State Structures and Poverty Reduction

Work developed broadly within the Weberian tradition has argued, for a long time, that there is a link between effective bureaucratic institutions and economic development. In a widely cited article, Evans and Rauch (1999) have demonstrated that there is a strong relationship between a national state's bureaucratic capacities (what they refer to as its 'Weberianness') and its record on economic growth. Drawing on their work, this paper examines an equally crucial relation: that of state bureaucratic capacities to poverty reduction. Using the Evans-Rauch data set and the best available data sets on income poverty for the period 1970-90, the paper analyses data for 29 developing and middle income countries. On the basis of this work, the paper concludes that, in general, there is indeed a strong relationship between states with effective 'Weberian' public institutions and their ability to reduce poverty.