Sand in the Wheels: Corruption, Governance, and the Quest for Sustainable Development in Sub‐Saharan Africa

How do governance quality and corruption jointly shape sustainable development? We analyze an unbalanced panel of 38 Sub‐Saharan African countries (2002–2021) employing PCSE and FGLS estimators. The model also includes controls for health expenditure, digitalization, unemployment, trade openness, and GDP. Findings indicate: (i) corruption is negatively associated with SDG performance; (ii) composite governance quality and its six governance dimensions—political stability, regulatory quality, control of corruption, government effectiveness, voice and accountability, and rule of law—are positively associated; and (iii) governance capacity mitigates the adverse association between corruption and SDG performance. Overall, results support a conditional “sand the wheels” interpretation: corruption is detrimental to holistic SDG performance, while governance both directly improves SDG outcomes and buffers (attenuates) the magnitude of corruption's harm. From a policy perspective, a dual strategy—anti‐corruption tools paired with governance reforms—appears most effective for accelerating progress on the SDGs under resource constraints. We outline limitations and future research directions.