Incidence Of Corruption Research Articles

The Anti-illicit Activity Regime of the Multilateral Development Banks: Criminal Acts or Prohibited Practices?

The spread of illicit activity across the global economy presents significant challenges to international development. Despite the well-recognised global incidence of corruption, fraud, and money laundering in development-focused investment projects, the responses of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) to these threats remain understudied. Our article offers the first comprehensive study into the comparative historical emergence and evolution of MDB responses to illicit activity. By identifying and analysing critical junctures in this history, we argue that the MDBs have tended to approach illicit activity as prohibited practices rather than criminal acts. We contend that this is an intentional choice made by the MDBs that absolves these organisations from any real responsibility in minimising illicit activity, finding their concern to be ensuring contractual compliance in their lending operations rather than curtailing criminal behaviour and their preference to be resolving contractual deviations in-house as opposed to coordinating with local jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies.

The institutional improvement effects of China’s foreign infrastructure investment and its mechanisms: implications for the construction of the belt and road initiative

ABSTRACT Reducing the high incidence of corruption in the field of infrastructure investment is a significant research topic. China is committed to advancing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a path of integrity. This paper aims to analyze the effects and mechanisms of institutional improvement induced by China’s foreign infrastructure investments. The study employs project data and survey questionnaire data from project locations. We find that China’s foreign infrastructure investments can endogenously drive the improvement of property rights systems in the surrounding areas of the projects, with the institutional improvement effects mainly occurring during the project initiation and completion phases, and these effects are long-lasting. Heterogeneity analysis shows that commercialized projects are the core driving force behind the improvement of property rights systems through China’s foreign infrastructure investments. Based on this, the paper proposes two suggestions for promoting the construction of the BRI as a path of integrity.

Institutions and corruption relationship: Evidence from African countries

This study considers the combined effects of formal (i.e., national governance) and informal (i.e., national culture) institutions on corruption based on a sample of 52 African countries over the 2007–2022 period. Employing institutional theory, our findings are three-fold. First, we find weak formal institutions (i.e., national governance systems) to be associated with higher levels of corruption. Second, regarding the effects of informal institutions (i.e., national culture) on the level of corruption, our results suggest that high power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and collectivism are associated with higher levels of corruption. However, masculinity has a negative and significant influence on the level of corruption in Africa. Finally, our main results indicate that the joint effect of formal (national governance) and informal (national culture) institutions tends to be associated with a high incidence of corruption at societal level.

Conflict and warfare metaphors in the Nigerian media conceptualization of corruption

ABSTRACT The incidence of corruption in Nigeria is monumental, widespread, pervasive and endemic. Studies on corruption in Nigeria have been approached from diverse perspectives including insights from social sciences and humanities. This study is based on the tenets of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). The CMT approach expresses the role of language, culture and cognition in the communication of human experiences. The underlying motivation for conceptualizing corruption as warfare is because it is pervasive, dangerous and destructive and can stifle national development. The Nigerian media have been at the forefront of reporting cases of public sector corruption and in doing so have deployed different metaphorical frames in conceptualizing the phenomenon. This study chiefly investigates the dominant use of conflict and war metaphors in the conceptualization and communication of corruption and anti-corruption discourses in the Nigerian media. Thus, this study uses insights from CMT to unearth and analyze some of the metaphorical schemes and categories that have been used by six Nigerian newspapers, namely; The Guardian, The Punch, Daily Trust, The Nation, Vanguard and Sun to represent corruption and anti-corruption rhetoric.

The Effect of Changes in Oil Prices on Economic Development of South Sudan: A Case Study of Juba City Republic of South Sudan

The study looks at how fluctuations in oil prices affect South Sudan's economic growth. This entails investigating the variables that affect oil prices as well as the connection between shifting oil prices and economic growth. The impact of oil prices on the economic growth and development of the nation is significant. For instance, the literature study shows that Pakistan's inflation of oil prices had little effect on economic growth over the medium and long terms. However, there were indicators of it raising the general price level in the economy. Eighty-eight (88) questionnaires were distributed to collect data from different respondents who were conveniently selected in Juba City and the response rate was 100%. The empirical evidence indicates that the correlation between oil prices and South Sudan's economic progress has improved. The government of South Sudan should rewrite and simplify the policy framework in order to guarantee increased oil revenue and a better socioeconomic standing for the populace. An impartial committee or entity that can supervise and keep an eye on the actions of individuals engaged in oil revenue management should be established by this policy framework. This tactic has the potential to greatly lower the incidence of corruption and improper handling of oil revenue while also raising socioeconomic conditions in South Sudan.

Hot town, corruption in the city: Assessing the impact of form of government on corruption using propensity scores

AbstractThis research explores the relationship between form of government and corruption using national municipal level data (1990–2020) using competing theoretical models; the principal–agent model and the professionalism–performance model. The principal–agent model suggests that the additional scrutiny provided by the electoral process will lead to a lower risk of corruption under the mayor–council form of government. The professionalism–performance model suggests that the professional training and incentives in place in the council–manager form will lead to a lower risk of corruption. However, it is difficult to examine the impact of the form of government on the incidence of corruption because there may be underlying community characteristics, such as population and poverty levels, that drive both the selection of form and corruption. Using propensity score matching and other propensity score methods to reduce the impact of confounding factors, this analysis finds robust evidence that the council–manager form reduces the risk of corruption, supporting the professionalism–performance model.

Police corruption and crime: Evidence from Africa

AbstractUsing data from the Afrobarometer surveys, this paper finds that people living in regions in which police corruption is more prevalent are more likely to report that they or someone in their family have been victims of physical assault. People living in more corrupted regions are also more likely to report that they or someone in their family has had something stolen from their home. We find no statistically significant gender differences in the average marginal effects. Controlling for the incidence of corruption in other domains reduces the size of the estimated association but does not render it insignificant in terms of statistical significance or magnitude. Non‐police corruption is also strongly associated with an increased risk of crime. For both types of crime, the evidence points to “transactional” police corruption (having to pay bribes to get help) rather than “predatory” police corruption (having to pay bribes to avoid problems) as driving the relationship. Finally, we show that, controlling for whether the respondent reports being a victim of either type of crime, police corruption predicts an increase in the probability that the respondent reports feeling unsafe while walking in their own neighborhood thus imposing a cost even on those who have not been victims.

Corruption, corporate governance, and sustainable development goals in Africa

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corruption, corporate governance and sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use panel data from 42 African countries over the period 2017–2020 and ordinary least square regression to test the research hypotheses. The authors also use alternative estimation techniques, including the fixed effect and random effect regressions and the generalized method of moment, to test the robustness of the results.FindingsThe results indicate that corruption negatively affects sustainable development (SD), whereas the effect of corporate governance is positive and significant. In addition, the positive influence of corporate governance on SD is stronger for countries with high corruption prevalence.Practical implicationsPolicymakers may rely on the outcome of this study to formulate practical and implementable solutions around corruption and corporate governance that can help toward the achievement of the SDGs. Specifically, corporate governance mechanisms may be relied upon to achieve SD in countries with a high corruption prevalence.Social implicationsThe social implication of this paper is that it demonstrates the adverse impact of corruption, which is rife in most African countries. Understanding corruption and the SDGs relationship will promote discussion with overarching implications for developing countries. Overall, the findings can sensitize society to the harmful effects of corruption and the positive effects of good corporate governance.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to literature and practice by demonstrating that corporate governance plays a significant role in the realization of national and global objectives such as the SDGs. This paper also provides novel evidence that corporate governance matters more in countries with a higher corruption incidence.

Analysis of Incidences of Corruption in the Nigerian Power Sector: Implications on Sustainable Development

Analysis of Incidences of Corruption in the Nigerian Power Sector: Implications on Sustainable Development

Forensic Accounting and Financial Crimes: An Empirical Evidence from Operatives and Trainers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Academy, Nigeria

Financial crimes in the public sector continue to be on the increase despite the effort of the Nigerian government in preventing the incidence of fraud and corruption through measures, such as establishing and strengthening organs of accountability and promoting the global best corporate practices. In view of this challenges, it become necessary to examines the effect of attributes of forensic accountants– Investigation of financial Crime and Corruption Skill (ICC), Knowledge and Expertise (KE), Litigation Support Services (LSS) on the financial crime (FC) in Nigerian public sector. The study employed cross-sectional design and a survey method. of the 110 questionnaires distributed, 53 questionnaires were returned valid and analysed. The study used PLS-SEM (SmartPLS 3.0) and IBM SPSS ver. 20.0 as the primary statistical analysis tools. The results of the study confirm that Knowledge and Expertise and Support Services of a forensic accountant has a significant positive effect on Financial Crime and it shows that investigation of crime and corruption has an insignificant negative effect on financial crime. Thus, the findings revealed that the forensic accountant attributes have significantly higher levels of KE, LSS on FC concerning fraud prevention, detection, management and response. Also, investigation of corruption discourages financial crime though not on high. The implication of this study might result in the overall reduction of fraud and fraudulent acts, promote institutional, regulatory and legal framework, and create awareness amongst the accounting and auditing institutions in the Nigerian public sector.

Internal audit effectiveness as a boon to public procurement performance: a multi mediation model

As part of Governments of Ghana efforts to deal with misappropriation of public sector resources, the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003 (Act 658) was established to ensure probity, accountability, and transparency in the management of public sector resources, yet there is a high Corruption Perception Index in Ghana as asserted by the Transparent International 2021 release. To address this concern, our paper is aimed to develop a new model to explain the extent to which internal audit effectiveness (IAE) could be used to build strong organizational resilience as a mechanism through which efficiency in public procurement could be achieved while reducing public sector corruption incidence. Data have been collected from a cross-section of public sector workers. The structural equation modeling approach has been used to analyze the survey data. Our results have shown that cultural, and strategic resilience dimensions of organizational resilience significantly mediate the relationship between IAE and procurement performance. These results have implications for re-enforcement of audit regulations to ensure transparency in managing public sector resources with a focus on reducing negative public sector corruption perception.

Enhancing Foreign Currency Allocation for Private Sector Development – Case of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Forex Auction System

Foreign currency shortages remain a perennial challenge in Zimbabwe leading to several spillover effects such as shortages in electricity, raw materials, fuel, inflation among other market distortions. The central bank introduced the Dutch Auction system in an attempt to address forex shortages but the effectiveness of this approach has been questioned. This study employed the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) and error corrected (VECM) models in order to empirically determine how the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe can efficiently allocate foreign currency in a manner which supports private sector development. In the short run, the auction is an effective tool to promote private sector development. However, long run analysis presents a deletions effect. This is due to a rise in round-tripping from market participants to leverage and perform arbitrage on different rates (auction and parallel), increased backlog reflecting shortages in allotments and high incidences of corruption. All this leads to a significant decrease in the confidence levels of the economy among private stakeholders. The study recommends monitoring of authorized auction dealers, improve public confidence by minimizing rent-seeking behavior, re-model exporters participation in the auction system or abandoning the auction system altogether.

Money down the drain: Corruption and water service quality in Africa

AbstractUsing data from the seventh round of the Afrobarometer, we find that a greater regional incidence of corruption in the utilities sector is associated with a reduced likelihood that a household reports that it has access to enough clean water. This result is not evident in older rounds of the survey that were conducted prior to methodological improvements made in round seven. Moreover, this association holds only in areas with a piped water system. Thus, our findings are consistent with the argument that corruption is a barrier to accessing water through its impact on the quality of water services. While a household that has paid a bribe is more likely to have a water access point, the regional incidence of utilities corruption predicts that the household will not have enough clean water. Individual acts of bribery, while associated with connection to a water network, are not associated with greater access in reality.

Fiscal decentralization and corruption: a case of indonesia

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to explain the relationship between decentralization and corruption in Indonesia. In doing so, this paper employs Indonesian provincial-level data from 2003 to 2018 using a Poisson model with an endogenous covariates model. The estimation result concludes that decentralization is associated with higher corruption incidence. The result remains robust using an alternative measure of decentralization. Indonesian decentralization is designed to authorize a substantial decision to the local government in prioritizing expenditures, but the primary taxing right remains with the central government. The significant power of the local government is associated with a higher incidence of corruption in the local region. Bribery and over-invoicing of public goods/services are the main cases of local government corruption in Indonesia.

Corruption as compensation for pathology of social relations

The article is devoted to formulation of a new hypothesis about the essence of corruption as a mechanism and result of compensation of pathology of public life. It is noted that modern scientific research does not consider corruption comprehensively and systematically, but in its individual aspects. As a rule, the managerial and legal. Does not take into account its psychological origins and features of corrupt behavior. The article is aimed at formulating promising directions for the study of corruption, necessary for effective counteraction of this phenomenon. The relevance of the article is due to the possibility of identification of new directions of corruption prevention on the basis of revision of the causes of corrupt conduct. 
 Reforms to prevent corruption have been found to reduce corruption but have not had a decisive impact on corruption. In this regard, the author examines the characteristics of corrupt behaviour and concludes that it is in the mechanisms that give rise to it and it is necessary to look for the causes of corruption. However, in considering the psychological factors of corrupt behaviour, the author concludes that they are not independent and cannot be considered as a direct cause. Psychological characteristics, such as the need for moral revisions of individual values and the search for excitement in the work performed, clearly indicate the presence of contradictions or even pathologies at a deeper level. Given the high incidence of corruption, the author concludes that these pathologies are not individual, but rather indicative of systemic problems of social life. And since problems are not solved, corruption is a kind of compensation, a solution to these problems. 
 It formulates the conclusion, according to which corruption has a compensatory nature and is a unique indicator of the state of social relations and existing problems in them. It points to areas of society and individual members that require study, revision and correction. This approach makes it possible to understand that the direct preventive impact on corruption will not give stable qualitative results, because by influencing corruption we will influence the consequences. At the same time, the reasons will remain untouchable.

A Static Dynamic in African Politics

Political developments in Africa continue to manifest that disjuncture between progress and stalemate. There continues to be a co-existence between change and stasis in many areas of African society. This is a sort of static dynamism where great hope inspired such developments as citizens electing new governments in countries like Malawi and Zambia, only to encounter deliberating despair marked by the destruction of Somalia by a ravaging terror-linked and externally driven conflict in the form of drones and bombings, the stubborn growth of terror in Mozambique, terror in the Sahel deepening. The incidence of political corruption put into the spotlight by the South African commissioning probing the so-called state capture, and the extradition of a former Mozambican finance minister for trial in the U.S. adds the gloom that threatens to dim hopes.

Corruption, FDI, and Trade Freedom Relationship Between Turkey and Latin American Countries

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been always associated with a high level of trade openness and freedom environment, and with a lower incidence of institutional corruption. Because it is assumed that a high level of international capital mobility makes foreign investors more cautious when there is a fluctuation in political stability and institutional transparency. Most American countries (except Canada and the USA) have been always related to a lack of transparency in their institutional and bureaucratic procedures, which conduct to important levels of corruption and in consequence, to other serious issues such as prominent level of violence, or even the inequality phenomena. This study investigates whether the variables of corruption indices, trade openness and inflation rates have positive or negative effects on FDI between Turkey and American countries. For analyzing this econometric model, it was gathered information from OECD, COMTRADE, TUIK, Heritage Foundation, UNCTAD, and the World Bank Database. The observed data correspond to a decade (2005-2014) and were only taken a sample of 14 American countries.The empirical results of the present study revealed that there is a positive correlation between the trade openness index and FDI; and, it was found a positive correlation between corruption index, inflation, and FDI. The increase in the corruption index causes a 41% increase in FDI inflow.

Human Capital Development Challenge: Why Corruption Eradication is a Panacea in Nigeria

The study finds empirical evidence regarding the role of corruption in the development of human capital in Nigeria for 1996–2019 period. Using ARDL technique to examine the long-run and short-run relationship between corruption and human capital development, and VECM to assess the causal effects, the analysis involves the inclusion of two corruption indicators (corruption index and control of corruption) as well as two human capital development measures (human capital index and life expectancy at birth). Findings obtained are consistent with efficiency-reducing theory (corruption is harmful), as the empirical evidence indicates that corruption has a significant impact on human capital development, suggesting that the incidence of corruption is a crucial element in the development of human capital. Further evidence reveals that there exists bidirectional causality between corruption and human capital development, implying that both the level of corruption and human capital development are interlinked and mutually inducing. Hence, the entrenched phenomenon of corruption in the country seems to have presaged long-term poor human development. It is therefore suggested that aside existing institutions established to curb corruption, such policy measures, which include addressing factors that incentivise corruption such as inappropriate regulatory frameworks, rent-seeking dispositions, among others, need to be initiated and promoted.

Partisan alignment and political corruption: Evidence from a new democracy

I analyze the link between partisan alignment of local politicians and the incidence of political corruption, using novel hand-collected data on local political corruption in Ghana. The empirical analysis, based on 205 districts observed over the period 2013–2018, suggests significantly lower levels of political corruption in aligned districts. Partisan alignment reduces corruption by 1.9 percentage points, equivalent to about half of the mean-level in non-aligned districts. In line with political ambition theory, I attribute this result to local politicians aligned with the national government having incentives to control fiscal irregularities within their localities in order to appease their national party leaders and preserve their party’s reputation. Alternative explanations are considered through empirical means and can be excluded. The estimated effect is more pronounced in districts that (i) are party strongholds, (ii) have better financial endowments, and (iii) have female local parliamentarians. It appears that political centralization and a politicized bureaucracy, as observed in Ghana, are important explanations for this finding.

The Role of Administrative Law and Economics in Tempering Discretion and Balancing Conflicting Objectives in Public Procurement Decision Making

The mandate of government is characterised by significant interdependence, complementarity and overlap between economic and social policy objectives. The pursuit of both economic and social objectives, therefore, is often necessary and inevitable in any system of public procurement regulation. The coexistence of economic and social objectives in a system of public procurement regulation, however, often results in conflicts and dilemmas. The conflicts and dilemmas occur when government bureaucrats make economically efficient but socially undesirable decisions or socially desirable but economically inefficient decisions. Moreover, public procurement laws often give government bureaucrats discretion to decide whether, the extent and the ends for which they can use procurement as a tool of economic or social policy. Although discretion is inevitable in any system of public procurement regulation, and public administration in general, it is also highly amenable to abuse. The disciplines of administrative law and economics offer useful conceptual tools that could be used to achieve an optimal balance or resolve conflicts between economic and social objectives in public procurement decision making. The disciplines of administrative law and economics offer useful conceptual tools for resolving the problem of discretion and its correlation with the incidence of corruption, favouritism and other forms of malfeasance in public procurement decision making. The two disciplines espouse a rule-based approach to public procurement regulation and decision making, characterised by circumscribed discretion and commitment to the values of competition, transparency and accountability