The determinants of cross-border corruption

Public Choice - We reconsider the question of what determines corruption at the cross-national level, using new methods and data: observations of occurrences of cross-national...     

腐败的发生机理及腐败风险的预警

腐败的本质是权力的滥用和异化,腐败的发生具有其内在机理。权力是腐败发生的根本性基础,制度或体制的缺陷是腐败发生的客观条件,腐败动机和成分分析是腐败发生的决定性因素。预防腐败的重点是能够发现腐败的苗头、把握腐败的发展趋势。因此,构建腐败风险预警机制就十分必要,腐败风险防范机制、发现机制和警示机制构成了腐败风险预警机制的基本结构。结合教育、制度、监督等反腐败途径,以预防腐败为工作重点,依据腐败行为的发生过程,科学设定腐败风险预警机制的运行程序,保证预防腐败行为的发生和蔓延。     

The policy consequences of political corruption

Controversies abound over whether political corruption handicaps the disadvantaged, facilitates government action, or simply inflates government costs. Multivariate analysis using data from the American states supports none of the hypotheses. Rather, corruption appears to have virtually no policy impact, either directly or in interaction with party competition.     

Complexities of corruption

He has worked for various political organizations and governmental offices. Among his books are American Business and Public Policy (with Raymond Bauer); Tyranny of Schooling: An Inquiry into the Problem of Stupidity;and Representation Versus Direct Democracy.He is at work on a paper on loyalty and reform as sources of corruption.     

Droughts and corruption

Public Choice - Natural disasters are challenges for good governance. That conclusion follows from recent research investigating the effects of natural disasters on one important force hostile to...     

The nexus between corruption and capital account restrictions

We provide a formal model illustrating the mutual relationship between corruption and capital account restrictions. Corrupt countries are more likely to impose capital controls because corruption reduces a government’s ability to collect tax revenue. If controls exist, however, individuals try to mitigate the burden by offering bribes, thereby increasing corruption. We test the model using panel data for 80 countries over the period 1984–2002 and find that corruption and restrictions indeed affect each other. Government’s attempts to increase revenue via controls on capital might thus invoke a restrictions-rent-seeking spiral with destructively high levels of both. Using capital controls to increase revenue should be reconsidered.     

Political parties and corruption in Portugal

Portugal is often considered an example of successful democratic consolidation. Yet it has not been exempt from corruption scandals. By the mid‐1990s, transparency and the moralisation of political life had come to dominate parliamentary debates and reforms. The illegality surrounding party life must be seen against the background of dominant ethical standards in society. Voters appear tolerant of the unethical behaviour of political leaders, while parties are gradually becoming less responsive to their electorate. Representation and delegation rely more on tacit consent than on voice, thus encouraging complacency over corruption.     

The rise of populist parties in the aftermath of a massive corruption scandal

Public Choice - Populism is on the rise in Europe and America, and understanding its origins and evolution is becoming increasingly important. In this study, I investigate the effects of the...     

标本兼治:建立完善的反腐保廉预防体系

中国共产党建党 80年来 ,始终高扬反腐败的旗帜 ,坚持不懈地清除党内各种消极腐败现象 ,保持党的先进性和纯洁性。党的十一届三中全会以来 ,党的第二、第三代领导核心坚持“两手抓、两手都要硬”方针 ,坚定不移地深入开展反腐倡廉工作 ,促进了两个文明建设的健康发展。去年底 ,江泽民同志在中央纪委第五次全会上作重要讲话 ,从巩固党的执政地位的高度 ,进一步强调反腐败斗争要在坚持治标、严惩各种腐败行为的同时 ,逐步加大治本力度 ,努力从源头上预防和治理腐败。这是我们党对反腐败斗争认识上的一次质的飞跃 ,战略上的一次重大调整。为此 …     

Corruption predictability and corruption voting in Asian democracies

Public Choice - I examine how the structure of corrupt exchanges between voters and politicians—an important-yet-underexplored form of informal institutions—shapes voters’...     

Lobbying, corruption and political influence

The paper explores the determinants of generalized trust across countries. The findings suggest that only few variables can be considered significant. Social polarization in the form of income inequality and ethnic diversity reduces trust, Protestantism and having a monarchy increases trust while post-communist societies are less trusting than other. The findings also provide support for the use of a standard indicator as a stable measure of generalized trust and emphasize the importance of taking endogeneity seriously.     

反腐倡廉建设中的“三架马车”要素探析

反腐倡廉建设是党的建设的基本任务,如何扎实推进反腐倡廉建设,成为全党全国上下备受关注的重大现实课题。要反腐倡廉,就要从廉政文化教育、完善法制制度和廉政监督体制这三个反腐倡廉建设的基本方面进行深入剖析。当前我们反腐倡廉建设面临着很多新情况与新挑战,只有通过建立廉政文化教育的长效机制,加强廉政法制建设,完善权力监督机制,才能进一步推进反腐倡廉建设。     

Institutional checks and corruption: The effect of formal agenda access on governance

Legislative checks give whoever wields them influence over policy making. It is argued in this article that this influence implies the ability not only to affect legislative content, but also to direct public resources toward private ends. Rational politicians should use access to checks to make themselves better off – for example, by biasing policy toward private interests or creating opportunities to draw directly from the public till. Disincentives exist only to the extent that those able to observe or block corruption do not themselves benefit from it. Political opponents thus can use checks to stymie each other, but legislative checks controlled by political allies create conditions for collusion and corruption. Testing this claim against data from a sample of 84 countries, the results presented in this article show strong support for the hypothesised relationship between institutional checks and corruption.     

用四个强化来深化反腐斗争提高拒腐防变能力

腐败现象是一种腐朽颓废的、阻碍社会前进的文化,体现的是反动落后的道德观和价值观。每一个中共党员、干部对这个问题都不能掉以轻心。要从强化学习意识、强化自律意识、强化制度意识、强化珍惜意识四个方面深化反腐斗争,提高拒腐防变的能力。     

Freedom of information acts and public sector corruption

Various countries have recently implemented Freedom of Information acts believing that greater transparency can reduce public sector corruption. To test this, we analyze annual data on 128 countries between 1984 and 2003 using a variety of propensity score matching techniques and overall find no significant relationship with one exception: In the developing world, FOI acts are significantly associated with rising levels of corruption. Further investigation suggests this may be due to the fact that the effectiveness of FOI acts appears to be conditioned by a country’s institutional arrangements.     

Government fragmentation versus fiscal decentralization and corruption

This research examines the influence of government decentralization on corruption in the United States. Previous research has focused primarily on fiscal decentralization. We address whether the structure of local governments??measured in terms of the scope of services offered and the population served??has a bearing on corruption. Results show that government decentralization does not necessarily reduce corruption??the type of decentralization matters. Specifically, more general-purpose governments contribute to corruption. In contrast, the effect of special-purpose governments is mixed. The findings uniquely reveal the tension between fiscal decentralization and fragmented local governments in terms of impacts on corruption.     

Impact of natural disaster on public sector corruption

This paper uses inter-country panel data from 1990 through 2010 to examine how the occurrence of natural disasters affects corruption within the public sector. For a closer analysis, disaster is classified into various categories, including general floods, other floods, tropical storms, other storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides. Furthermore, this paper explores whether natural disasters have different impacts on corruption levels in developed and developing countries. The study reveals a number of novel findings. (1) Natural disasters that cause substantial damage increase public sector corruption in both developing and developed countries. (2) Natural disasters have a greater impact on public sector corruption in developed countries than in developing countries. (3) In developed countries, natural disaster frequency has a significant impact on the level of corruption. Hence, foreseeable disasters increase corruption in general. In developed countries, an incentive may exist to live within disaster-prone areas because of the potential for disaster compensation payments.