Poster #35 - Empirical Assessment of the Association Between Regulatory Quality and Government Effectiveness: The Case of Nigeria.

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Introduction/Background: Regulatory quality is the ability of the government to formulate and implement effective policies that enable development in the private/public sectors. A strong regulatory quality could enhance government effectiveness. However, developing countries like Nigeria have struggled to maintain strong regulatory quality and government effectiveness in recent years, leading to various policy lapses.

Purpose/Research Question: This study aims to investigate the association between regulatory quality and government effectiveness in Nigeria while controlling for political instability, inflation rate, and gross domestic product. The research question asks, to what extent is regulatory quality associated with government effectiveness in Nigeria? This study is significant because no research has examined the association between regulatory quality and government effectiveness in Nigeria.

Methods: The normative regulation theory guides this study. The normative regulation theory suggests that regulation should encourage excellence where feasible, decrease the cost of information irregularities, and establish regulatory processes that improve transparency, effectiveness, and credibility in the regulatory system. This theory is suitable for this study because it helps to explain the research adequately. Annual secondary data from 1996 to 2024 will be used for the analysis, and these data will be sourced from reputable institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) websites. This study will adopt a multivariate/quantitative methodological approach, and multiple regression techniques will be used for the analysis. Additionally, assumption testing, including linearity, independence, homoscedasticity, and normality of residuals, will be tested to ensure the validity and reliability of the study.

Result/Findings: This study expects to find a significant association between regulatory quality and government effectiveness in Nigeria, given the issue at hand.

Conclusion/Implications: This research includes some policy implications, as the expected findings will enable the Nigerian government to address the problem adequately. This study contributes to theory and literature because no research has examined the association between regulatory quality and government effectiveness in Nigeria, nor has the normative regulation theory been used to investigate this association. It will serve as a guide for other researchers and policymakers in other developing and developed countries. The results will provide helpful information that can be used to address similar issues effectively in different countries, thereby fostering resilient policies locally and globally.

Keywords: Regulatory quality, Government effectiveness, normative regulation theory, political instability, inflation rate, and Gross Domestic Product. 

Author

• Lilian Uchenna Chineme-Ugwu, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Presenting Author