View Of Corruption Research Articles

Anticorruption and Growth: Evidence from China

Many studies have examined corruption’s effect upon economic growth. This study takes a different approach and investigates whether anticorruption campaigns might also lower economic growth, at least in the short run. We focus upon the anticorruption campaigns run by the Communist Party of China in recent years. To measure the intensity of the Party’s anticorruption efforts, we count the number of articles from official newspapers that discuss corruption or anticorruption policies. These official Chinese newspapers are controlled by the Party as its mouthpieces and the inclusion of articles and editorials in these papers only appear with official approval. Therefore, the frequency of corruption and anticorruption articles within these papers provides information for how seriously the Party views corruption and how strenuously the Party is fighting it. We first analyze the patterns of the anticorruption campaigns across provinces and over time while also comparing our measure with other measures of corruption and anticorruption. Using data from Chinese provinces, we then estimate the effect of anticorruption upon economic growth. We employ fixed effects models and find a negative effect from anticorruption upon economic growth. Concerned that economic growth could impact the intensity of anticorruption campaigns, we utilize dynamic GMM estimation methodologies and also propose an external instrument for our anticorruption proxy. Results remained robust. Finally, we measure the effects of anticorruption not by our newspaper proxies but by looking at growth effects during and after the sentencing of high ranking government officials on corruption charges. Economic growth is once again found to be lower. Moreover, this negative effect appears to last for two years. Our findings do not imply that governments should not try to lower corruption, but do suggest a cost of doing so.

Corruption, Financial Resources and Exports

AbstractThis paper argues that a country's comparative advantage in exports depends on both the factor abundance and the allocation efficiency of the endowments. However, the latter is not considered in the traditional Heckscher–Ohlin model. In line with the “sand” view of corruption, this paper empirically studies the role of corruption in shaping a country's export pattern by distorting the allocation of financial resources. We find that the resource misallocation resulting from corruption undermines the export growth promoted by the positive external financial shock. The negative effects are realized by the extensive margins instead of the intensive margins of heterogeneous firms.

Cultural Endorsement of Broad Leadership Prototypes and Wealth as Predictors of Corruption

Corruption is a social ill that involves public officials’ misuse of entrusted power, which is a function of sociocultural factors. Rarely, however, do researchers view corruption as a leadership-related problem. In the current research, we conceptualize corruption as a leadership-related problem, and propose three broad leadership prototypes based on social value orientation theory and research. We seek to examine (1) how cultural endorsement of self-serving, prosocial, and individualistic leadership prototypes is related to corruption at the societal level and (2) how wealth moderates the relationship between cultural endorsement of self-serving leadership and corruption. Using archival data of 53 societies, we found that cultural endorsement of self-serving leadership was positively related to corruption, strengthened by wealth. Cultural endorsement of prosocial leadership and individualistic leadership, however, was not significantly related to corruption, and wealth did not moderate either of the relationships. The implications of these findings for theory and future research are discussed.

How business students view corruption, and why this should concern us: insights from Lebanon, Romania and the United States

When seeking to understand corruption in its ongoing temporal context, it is useful to consider business students. Because of their high numbers and the kinds of jobs they enter, they have a key role to play in challenging or sustaining corruption in their societies. This exploratory study focuses on these people in three countries in different regions – the USA, Romania and Lebanon – and asks ‘How does long-standing corruption in a country shape their attitudes toward bribery?’ Using a case-study methodology structured along four theoretical perspectives – universalism, cultural relativism, ethical relativism and consequentialism – the study suggests that, when viewed from a universalist perspective, students in corrupt societies may be more tolerant of corrupt practice than those living in less corrupt countries. Thus, rather depressingly, those who should be part of the solution may actually be part of the problem.

‘Corruption is Dirt’: Metaphors for Political Corruption in the Spanish Press

Corruption seems to have been a fact of Spanish politics in recent years, involving property deals, local government and political parties. The latest scandal, known as the ‘Barcenas affair’, involved the conservative ruling party. Set within the theoretical framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this paper seeks to explore the conceptualization of corruption in Spanish through the analysis of the linguistic and verbo–pictorial metaphors used in the Spanish press to tackle the issue of corruption and the Barcenas case. We will see that the view of corruption is shaped by a number of conceptual metaphors. Like all political metaphors, corruption metaphors make an abstract concept more tangible. The study also shows how metaphor works in actual discourse, thus providing an insight into the pragmatic function of metaphor (Charteris-Black 2004, 2005). In this light, it is argued that the various metaphors structuring corruption carry a strong axiological weight by providing a negative evaluation of politica...

Korruptionen i det svenska folkstyret: vad säger medborgarna?

Prior research on corruption highlights the importance of considering ordinary citizens’ views of corruption in politics and public administration. A key reason for this is that these views appear to have a significant impact on people’s confidence in public institutions. Moreover, to get a better understanding of corruption in “least corrupt” democracies with functioning market economy, it is important not only to include bribery, but also other types of corruption. In this article we use country representative data from Survey 2012 of such a case, Sweden, to better understand the variation of corruption across levels of government and how respondents’ own experiences of corruption relate to their perceptions of corruption. Cross-country studies portray Sweden as one of the least corrupt. However, Swedes tend to see corruption as present in public administration and in the recent past Sweden has experienced several corruption scandals. Our results show, in line with previous studies, that corruption is perceived as more common in subnational government than state government. In addition, when asked about their own experience of corruption (or the experience of someone they know) we show this to vary depending on what type of corruption situation it concerns: More respondents have experience of nepotism than bribery. Another major finding of the present article concerns the relationship between respondents’ experience of corruption and their perception of how much corruption there is in government. In particular, perceptions of extensive corruption are more likely among those with own experience of corruption. Given the potential impact of corruption views on support for the democratic system, this link between citizens’ experience of corruption and perception of its prevalence merits further research.

The Quest for Maslow’s Self-Actualisation Need in Leadership: A Review of Happiness in the Nigerian Economy

The phrase “making it” or “made it” is a common phenomenon that posits ones money-making status or the wealth one has acquired in Nigerian society. The word is mainly used to describe or applaud people that have amassed wealth in the government leadership roles or used by leadership cohorts to describe their act in the business of embezzlement of public fund. Many politicians and top government officials view corruption, most especially embezzling public wealth for personal use as way of self actualisation, attaining happiness and success in Nigeria. This phenomenon has generated other societal evils that have resulted in a lot of hardship and unhappiness of Nigerian masses and even the few in the leadership positions base on Maslow’s basic needs of life. The work however, aimed at ascertaining Nigeria’s happiness status, discovered that with societal values like religion and pronounced life deprivations, the masses could be said to be happy. Therefore, concludes that justice is an icon to achieving global happiness and recommends removal of immunity provision of the constitution to curb corruption and upgrade happiness status of Nigerians. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1p471

Corruption and Campaign Funding: A Burkean Perspective

AbstractEdmond Burke based his 1780 plea for economic reform on a notion of political corruption that he touched on only in few additional letters and addresses of the time. It was soon eclipsed by other “burning” questions that occupied his mind, and remains among his less developed and less studied ideas. It nevertheless merits attention. As a pragmatic politician with a philosophical bent, his main aim in the speech on reform was to sway the politics of his time; yet his deductive reasoning led him to generalizations that may point to a possible direction by which we can look for solutions to some of the problems that beset current understandings of corruption. Of special interest in this context is his treatment of situations where widespread perception of corruption exists with out any massive law- breaking. In what follows I will argue that Burkes conception stakes a midway position between the older, “classic” views of corruption, and the thought of the 18th century liberals that informs our current perceptions of the phenomenon. Both received ample attention in the literature. Nevertheless, a brief note may serve as context for the consideration of Burkes ideas on the subject.

Corruption Here, Corruption There, Corruption Everywhere: A Framework for Understanding and Addressing Public Sector Corruption in Developing African Democracies

Corruption exists in all political jurisdictions globally, but it is believed to be more pronounced in transitional democracies especially African countries. Due to the extent of corruption in African countries, scholars and practitioners in the fields of public policy and development studies suggest that corruption has significantly undermined, and continues to undermine development on the continent. Using Africa as a case study and selected theoretical models, this paper views corruption as a transaction process and provides a model to explain how the transaction occurs between the actors involved. It also explores how corruption diminishes efforts towards the development of Africa, and proposes a comprehensive framework that can be adopted to curb the canker of corruption in Africa. The study adopted the content analysis technique within qualitative study. It thus, draws extensively on existing literature available in peer reviewed articles, conference and government reports, books and magazines. Among the key findings of the study are that; corruption is a two-way affair, which manifests in some sort of demand and supply. It was also found out that the prevalence of weak bureaucratic institutions and systems (context) and the manner of how transactions are conducted (process) all contribute to promotion of corruption in developing African countries. In order to address the problem of corruption, the study recommends the adoption of a holistic approach, which involves a strong political will to enforce law and order, strengthening state institutions to detect, expose and prosecute culprits irrespective of their status and political affiliation. The paper also suggests that bureaucratic and political elites should take the lead in fighting corruption by conducting themselves in a manner that will inspire trust and confidence in the entire political system.

KORUPSI: SIMBOL IDENTITAS

Corruption is seen by many experts has become a culture in Indonesia. Various approaches and perspectives of political science try to better understand this issue, but the issue of corruption continue to grow, particularly among officials and members of Parliament. This article tries to give a different understanding about the corruption of katamata anthropology, which views corruption as a form of social reinforcement of group identity

KORUPSI: SIMBOL IDENTITAS

Corruption is seen by many experts has become a culture in Indonesia. Various approaches and perspectives of political science try to better understand this issue, but the issue of corruption continue to grow, particularly among officials and members of Parliament. This article tries to give a different understanding about the corruption of katamata anthropology, which views corruption as a form of social reinforcement of group identity

Legal Regulation of Combating Corruption. Report of the LSGL's Research Group

Corruption is a serious institutional dysfunction. The lenient view of corruption as the “grease of the wheels of development” is no longer accepted. Much on the other hand, graft is currently understood as the “sand of the wheels”. As one of the main factors hindering economic and social development, the combat of corruption has become a top priority in the agendas of public and private actors, including academia.The Law School Global League has joined such efforts. It has created a group formed by scholars from several countries, including Brazil, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom and Turkey, and organized academic conferences on the topic. This report was prepared as a contribution to the creation of a comparative critical mass regarding such serious crime. The purpose is to contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and to expand awareness of the applicable regulation and of the related institutions, mechanisms and instruments. The report based on legal regulations and judicial practice of the above countries.The second chapter addresses the general aspects of corruption. The third chapter deals with prevention of corruption in the public sector. Chapter four is dedicated to anti-corruption compliance in companies. Chapter five tackles the criminal liability for corruption. Chapter six deals with transnational enforcement of anti-corruption norms and the creation of property rights.

Corruption in Russia, Russia Corrupted: Is There a Way out?

The article views corruption as an integral feature and the engine of the Russian economy. The main causes of corruption are linked to the nature of Russian privatization, mechanisms of government appointments and carrier growth, the lack of resource control in the process of the execution of economic policies. Corruption is considered to be a multilevel phenomenon, which embraces the process of governmental decision making, functioning of businesses and householders’ performance. Systematic analysis of the dissemination of corruption and successful experiences of other countries allow full scale measures for combating corruption in Russia to be proposed. Special attention is paid to the formation of state, corporate and public anti-corruption institutions.

Is corruption grease, grit or a gamble? Corruption increases variance of productivity across countries

The effect of corruption on economic growth has attracted interest in empirical development economics. The conventional view of corruption as impediment for growth has been challenged by the ‘grease-on-the-wheels’ hypothesis. We take a new perspective on the issue and suggest corruption as macro risk, referred to as a ‘gamble’ hypothesis. Using cross-country data and two alternative indicators of corruption, we find corruption to be a significant driver of heteroscedasticity in total productivity. This supports the new gamble hypothesis. We also note some misleading interpretations in the previously published frontier applications. To avoid these shortcomings, we apply a flexible semi-nonparametric estimator.

Political Corruption as Deformities of Truth

This paper presents a conception of corruption informed by epistemic democratic theory. I first explain the view of corruption as a disease of the political body. Following this view, we have to consider the type of actions that debase a political entity of its constitutive principal in order to assess corruption. Accordingly, we need to consider what the constitutive principle of democracy is. This is the task I undertake in the second section where I explicate democratic legitimacy. I present democracy as a procedure of social inquiry about what ought to be done that includes epistemic and practical considerations. In the third section, I argue that the problem of corruption for a procedural conception of democracy is that the epistemic value of the procedure is diminished by corrupted agents’ lack of concern for truth. Corruption, according to this view, consists in two deformities of truth: lying and bullshit. These deformities corrupt since they conceal private interests under the guise of a concern for truth. In the fourth section, I discuss the difficulties a procedural account may face in formulating solutions to the problem of corruption.

Captured by evil: the idea of corruption in law

One of the most powerful words in the English language, is also one of the most troubled concepts in law. According to Laura Underkuffler, it is a concept based on religiously revealed ideas of good and evil. But the notion of corruption defies the ordinary categories by which law defines crimes-categories that punish acts, not character, and that eschew punishment on the basis of religion and emotion. Drawing on contemporary examples-including former assemblywoman Diane Gordon and former governor Rod Blagojevich-Underkuffler explores the implications and dangers of maintaining such an archaic concept at the heart of criminal law. Underkuffler challenges the traditional rational and logical characterizations of corruption and defends a highly original and insightul proposal. In her view corruption is an emotional concept grounded in religious ideas defying traditional criminal law doctrines. This book is a fantastic contribution to the study of corruption as well as more generally to the study of law and culture.-Alon Harel, Hebrew University Law School

The “grabbing hand” or the “helping hand” view of corruption: Evidence from bank foreign market entries

This study adopts a resource perspective to explore a non-linear relationship between corruption and two measures of bank foreign market commitment, the capital invested and the share of equity, on a sample of 131 bank entries in forty host countries. Our findings support a U-shaped relationship providing evidence of the “grabbing hand” view at low to moderate levels of corruption and, supporting the “helping hand” view at high levels of it. In addition, market-seeking motives are found to have a positive moderating effect on this relationship. This study contributes to the long-standing debate about the effects of corruption on FDI.

Corruption and product market competition: An empirical investigation

We analyze the relationship between product market competition and corruption. The existing literature typically views corruption as extortion of “pre-existing” rents. This perspective suggests that competition usually reduces corruption, although generally the sign of this relationship is ambiguous. Shleifer and Vishny (1993), however, show that cost-reducing corruption is promoted by product market competition. That is, the effect of competition on corruption depends of the nature of corruption. Unlike the existing empirical studies that employ cross-country data and general measures of corruption, we test the competition–corruption relationship using firm-level information. Our approach overcomes significant estimation difficulties that result from relying on cross-country data; for instance, we include country fixed effects, and we deal with potential endogeneities by instrumenting competition with US capital–labor ratios for the appropriate industries. Contrary to the existing empirical work, we show that stronger product market competition is associated mostly with greater corruption of the cost-reducing variety.

The Importance of Progressive Interpretation for Judge in Handling Corruption Cases in Indonesia

 Abstract—The objective of this research is to analyze method of legal interpretation which is conducted by judge in handling corruption cases. Data were collected by interviewing judge and analysing judge verdict on corruption cases. Research result showed that common methods of legal interpretation are wide and narrow interpretations. Wide legal interpretation is intepretation which considers norms and moral turpidute based on unwitten legal sources. Narrow legal interpretation views corruption merely based on written legal sources. The application of both legal interpretations brings implication. If judge employs narrow legal interpretation, judge tends to pass non guilty verdict. Meanwhile, if judge applies wide legal interpretation, judge is likely to pass guilty verdict. This research recomends the importance of progressive interpretation for corruption case. Progressive interpretation is legal interpretation on written regulation and legal facts which does not only to read them literally but also to place them in certain context.

Countering Corrupting Conflicts of Interest: The Example of Hong Kong

This paper views corruption as arising from a conflict of interests, in which the corrupt actor pursues a private interest at the expense of an official or professional duty. In this way, conflicts of interest are at the root of corrupt behaviour in both the public and the private sector. Such conflicts can be countered by structural strategies that subject the agent to limited discretion, increased supervision or transparency. An independent anti-corruption agency is a powerful check of this type. Conflicts of interest can also be combated by increasing the cost of pursuing the private interest, whether that cost be monetary or in the form of a loss of freedom or reputation. Increasing the probability that such cost will be incurred augments the deterrent factor, and thus the quality of oversight, investigation and prosecution will increase the cost of corruption to potential actors and reduce the frequency of its occurrence. The Hong Kong anti-corruption regime combines all of these techniques in exemplary fashion. This paper uses the example of Hong Kong to analyze how corrupting conflicts of interest can be countered through law and related programmes.