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Corruption is a problem of collective action. The fight against corruption came on the international agenda in the 1990s. The core of the recommendations from International organizations and scholars is to establishment of anti-corruption agencies with the aim of increasing the risk of detection and punishment to individual who engage in corrupt affairs. However, despite condemnation by all cultures, individuals and societies can be socialized into a culture of corruption where the benefits of partaking in corruption will exceed those of being honest. It is thus not sufficient to change individual incentives without also seeking to change behavioural norms. Through a comparison of Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria it is shown that there is no ’miracle cure’. Anti-corruption agencies are important but effectiveness presumes economic reform, a well functioning system of justice and a credible public condemnation of corruption. An efficient anti-corruption policy is multi-faceted employing instruments simultaneously with each instrument conditioned on the others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]