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This book focuses on and analyses the multi-layered, multi-faceted, complex and complicated corruption phenomenon that undermines inter alia democracy, government, governance, development, rule of law, and accountability; how it harms a country's reputation, deters trade and investment; distorts markets and the performance of economies and has negative effects on the environment for the present and the future generation while detailing the profound consequences for society, especially the poor and marginalised, by violating trust, human rights and increasing inequality. Corruption and poverty have become endemic evils in Africa and there is no blueprint solution for them, given the varying situations and conditions across the continent. This book proposes a holistic, all-inclusive, and multi-thronged approach to the corruption and poverty epidemic targeting Africa. This collection of chapters will be of interest to students and academics alike.

Corruption, commonly defined as the misuse of public office for private gains, is multifaceted, multidimensional and ubiquitous. This edited collection, featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field of corruption, goes beyond the standard enforcement framework wherein individuals only compare the expected costs and benefits of a corrupt act. These chapters explore the political-cultural contexts, legal and regulatory process and, above all, moral and psychological factors in attempts to understand and explain corruption. The book explores a broad canvas where gender, technology, culture and institutional structures influence attitudes towards corruption.Design and implementation of anti-corruption strategies benefit from suitable identification of these factors contributing to the prevalence and persistence of corruption. Combining theoretical and empirical studies with evidence from experiments as well as case studies, the book provides crucial state of the art in corruption research in a highly accessible manner. This book serves as a vital reference to students and scholars in economics, politics and development studies. Additionally, policymakers and development practitioners can use the insights from this book in successful design and implementation of anti-corruption policies.

Political Corruption and Democratic Governance explores the effects of political corruption on important aspects of democratic governing. Jongseok Woo and Eunjung Choi use a cross-national lens to analyze how political corruption influences different areas of politics and economics, including electoral outcomes, citizens'evaluations of democratic norms and values, economic development, distributional justice, and social and political trust in both developed and developing nations. While most works on political corruption focus on the causes of corruption, this book delves into various consequences of it. The discussion in each chapter engages both theoretical and empirical components of political corruption, introducing competing theoretical arguments on a given topic and puts them under rigorous empirical scrutiny. Each chapter involves large-N statistical analysis to make it truly global in scope and to overcome the limits of single (or small-N) case studies on political corruption. This book concludes with critical evaluations about anti-corruption efforts by various IGOs and NGOs and specific policy recommendations to deter corruption.

This book offers new ways of thinking about corruption by examining the two distinct ways in which policy approaches and discourse on corruption developed in the UN and the OECD. One of these approaches extrapolated transnational bribery as the main form of corrupt practices and advocated a limited scope offense, while the other approach tackled the broader structure of the global economic system and advocated curbing the increasing power of multinational corporations. Developing nations, in particular Chile, initiated and contributed much to these early debates, but the US-sponsored issue of transnational bribery came to dominate the international agenda. In the process, the ‘corrupt corporation'was supplanted by the ‘corrupt politician', the ‘corrupt public official'and their international counterpart: the ‘corrupt country'. This book sheds light on these processes and the way in which they reconfigured our understanding of the state as an economic actor and the multinationalcorporation as a political actor.

Il volume affronta il tema della corruzione come fenomeno patologico ad elevato impatto sul governo e sugli equilibri degli enti e delle aziende pubbliche. Attraverso la triangolazione di una pluralità di approcci metodologici (content analysis, focus group, experimental research), il lavoro mira a delineare un quadro analitico del fenomeno corruttivo nella prospettiva economico-aziendale, investigandone i tratti fondamentali in relazione al più ampio sistema di decisioni ed operazioni a cui sovrintende il management pubblico.Nella trattazione si espongono riflessioni e analisi sulle possibili configurazioni del costo della corruzione, sull'importanza della formazione e dello sviluppo delle competenze individuali, sulla necessità di rafforzare i sistemi di controllo interno e di risk management, nella convinzione che la messa in opera di principi e strumenti manageriali rappresenti un fattore decisivo per il presidio della legalità, la garanzia del buon andamento e il tempestivo ed efficace fronteggiamento del fenomeno corruttivo.Vincenzo Zarone è ricercatore in Economia Aziendale presso il Dipartimento di Economia e Management dell'Università di Pisa.

Have you ever asked yourself what gives comfort to someone who demands and accepts a bribe, sells drugs or commits professional crimes for money? The majority of these people are not wealthy, and they accept small amounts of money every day from their victims.Cash, Corruption and Economic Development examines the causes of corruption and crime and highlights what brings comfort to all those who accept bribes and kickbacks, arguing that it is paper currency because it does not leave a signature of its movement from one entity to another. The author proposes that today, with the technology available, we can make the transition to a paper currency-free economy, which will help reduce corruption and crime and give a boost to economic development. The book analyses the causes of corruption and presents a replacement for the current model, to be implemented by a central bank and followed by banks operating within its jurisdiction.This book will be of interest to economists, students of economics and finance, and all those who have suffered as a result of corruption and professional crime and want these practices to end.

Corruption, generally defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private gains, has been the growing center of attention of many social scientists since the end of the cold war. Corruption can be seen in different perspectives depending on cultural background and it is defined in many spectrums by different scholars. This book provides current research on the political, economic and social issues of corruption. The first chapter begins with a review of social and political issues of a globalized economy. Chapter two presents a review of the literature on the economics of corruption. Chapter three tackles corruption in politics and public service. Chapter four discusses the procurement market from the macro-perspective and analyzes the relationship between level of corruption and selected indicators of the public procurement market. Chapter five studies criminal culpability and economic crisis. Chapter six discusses gendered attitudes towards corruption and experiences with bribery. Chapter seven explores the relationship between corruption and gender inequality in Nicaragua. Chapter eight deals with the influence of multilateral anti-corruption agreements on the regulatory framework in developed countries. Chapter nine identifies the relationship between corruption and the processes of transition in West Balkan countries. Chapter ten explores corruption in the privatized public enterprises using selected privatized institutions. Chapter 11 discusses progress and constraints of civil society anti-corruption initiatives in Uganda. The final chapter analyzes three cases of alleged corruption related to genetically modified foods where corruption claims based on ethical-critical logics were confronted with objective-formal counter-arguments.

Confronting Corruption in Business focuses on the contextual issues that trigger corruption to give the reader a more thorough understanding of destructive leadership. It provides students with a unique, critical perspective on issues of leadership, corruption, and policy in different countries, industries, and companies.While there isn't a universally agreed upon definition of corruption in social sciences, it generally refers to efforts to secure wealth or power through misusing public power for private gain. This kind of destructive leadership is typically treated as an anomaly, but this book closes the gap in our understanding by highlighting the wider consequences of this behavior within business, and on an international level. Armed with this understanding, one also learns how to mitigate its causes and consequences. Edited by leading experts, the book includes contributions from scholars with international expertise on leadership, strategy, political science, finance, organizational change, and public policy. It is the first book to focus on corruption on the country level and within business, and students in international business, management, ethics, and leadership classes will find it a valuable read.

Corruption has a devastating impact on developing and transition countries, with estimates of $20 billion to $40 billion per year stolen by public officials, a figure equivalent to 20 to 40 percent of flows of official development assistance. The return of the proceeds of corruption--asset recovery--can have a significant development impact. Returns can be used directly for development purposes, such as improvements in the health and education sectors and reintegration of displaced persons, with additional benefits of improved international cooperation and enhanced capacity of law enforcement and financial management officials.Development agencies and those committed to development effectiveness have a role in the asset recovery process. They have made international commitments to fight corruption and recover the proceeds of corruption in the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness: Accra Agenda for Actions, held in Accra in 2008, and the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness: Partnership for Effective Development, held in Busan in 2011. Despite these efforts, there has been difficulty in translating these commitments into concrete action.This StAR-OECD publication reports on how OECD countries are performing on asset recovery. Drawing on data collected between 2006 and 2012, the report provides recommendations and good practices and suggests specific actions for development agencies.Few and Far is primarily intended to support the anti-corruption and asset recovery efforts of developed and developing jurisdictions, with a particular focus on actions for development agencies. In addition, civil society organizations engaged in governance and development issues may wish to use these findings and recommendations in their reports and advocacy efforts.

'Informative and refreshing, these short studies from around the world provide fertile ground for discussion, analysis and positive ways forward. In this book, corrupt practices from around the world are examined by experienced practitioners and researchers who shed light on various forms of corruption.'- Adam Graycar, Australian National UniversityAll societies develop their own norms about what is fair behavior and what is not. Violations of these norms, including acts of corruption, can collectively be described as forms of'grabbing'. This unique volume addresses how grabbing hinders development at the sector level and in state administration. The contributors - researchers and practitioners who work on the ground in developing countries - present empirical data on the mechanisms at play and describe different types of unethical practices.The book's sixteen case studies explore why certain practices constitute forms of grabbing, what implications they have for the achievement of development goals, and how policy options should take the characteristics of grabbing into account. A broad range of sectors are covered, including extractive industries, construction, ports, utilities, finance, health, pharmaceuticals and education. The authors discuss political checks and balances, democratic elections and the law enforcement system, as well as the government s role in the allocation of land and as a development partner in other countries.The volume's original approach makes it a valuable resource for researchers and students interested in development, economics, governance and corruption. Development aid practitioners, as well as politicians and public officials in developing countries, will find it a useful aid in their work.Contributors: I. Amundsen, J. Andvig, T. Barasa, G. Bel, B. Chinsinga, L. Corkin, A. Estache, R. Foucart, S. Gloppen, S.-E. Helle, K. Hussman, E.G. Jansen, P. Le Billon, I. Lindkvist, J. F. Marteau, M. Poisson, G. Raballand, L. Rakner, J.C. Rivillas, I.A. Skage, A. Strand, A. Tostensen, J. Wells, L. Wren-Lewis

This volume provides a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence on corruption generated by recent laboratory and field experiments conducted by economists and political scientists. The first part of the volume reviews the evidence produced by laboratory experiments in relation to gender and cultural differences in corruption decision-making, as well as the effectiveness of different anti-corruption policies. This part concludes with an assessment of the external validity of corruption investigations relying on laboratory experiments. The second part of the volume reviews recent contributions to corruption research made through the use of field experiments. Special attention is given to advances in measuring corruption in the field, investigations of clientelism and vote-buying, and the role that information can play in the fight against corruption. A critical assessment of the effectiveness of top-down and bottom-up anti-corruption interventions completes this section. The volume concludes with important reflections on the role that behavioral and experimental economics can play in anti-corruption research and practice.

The book analyses the influence of corruption on economic growth and environmental protection, examining corruption from different perspectives. It contributes to several streams of the literature and assembles evidence of the influence of corruption on two important variables in human welfare: income and environmental policies. The material evinces the detrimental effect that corruption has on economic growth and on the stringency of environmental policies. It also shows that standard techniques for fighting corruption are often based either on simplistic definitions or on strong assumptions that do not apply in many countries blighted by corruption. From a methodological standpoint, this work combines a number of approaches including a theoretical discussion of corruption and of its definition (often omitted in economic studies), together with econometrics, case studies and policy discussions.

A companion volume to the International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption published in 2006, the specially commissioned papers in Volume Two present some of the best policy-oriented research in the field. They stress the institutional roots of corruption and include new research on topics ranging from corruption in regulation and procurement to vote buying and private firm payoffs.Understanding the consequences of corrupt transactions requires one to know what is being bought with a bribe and how the behavior of public and private actors has been affected. The contributors therefore emphasize how the economic analysis of corruption must take account of the broader context within which bribery and self-dealing operate. Several chapters offer new approaches to empirical research on corruption that range from individual-level data to the macro-economy. Chapters with an explicit policy focus deal with the efficacy of anti-corruption agencies, multi-stakeholder initiatives, red flag warning systems and international conventions.This cutting-edge work will be an unmatched resource for scholars and students of corruption, professionals in international aid and finance organizations, and scholars and professionals with more general interests in economic and political development.Contributors: T.S. Aidt, D.M. Aldrighi, E. Auriol, F. Boehm, E. Buscaglia, B. Clausen, S. Cole, A. Estache, B. Flyvbjerg, Y. Jeong, C. Kenny, A. Kraay, A. Lambert-Mogiliansky, E. Molloy, P. Murrell, M. Musatova, L.V. Peisakhin, G. Piga, J.D. Potter, F. Recanatini, S. Rose-Ackerman, T. Søreide, S. Straub, M. Tavits, A. Tran, R. Truex, M. Vagliasindi, P.C. Vicente, R.J. Weiner, L. Wren-Lewis

Getting inside the heads of the developing world's dictators, warlords, and corrupt politiciansMeet the economic gangster. He's the United Nations diplomat who double-parks his Mercedes on New York City streets at rush hour because the cops can't touch him—he has diplomatic immunity. He's the Chinese smuggler who dodges tariffs by magically transforming frozen chickens into frozen turkeys. The dictator, the warlord, the unscrupulous bureaucrat who bilks the developing world of billions in aid. The calculating crook who views stealing and murder as just another part of his business strategy. And, in the wrong set of circumstances, he might just be you.In Economic Gangsters, Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel take readers into the secretive, chaotic, and brutal worlds inhabited by these lawless and violent thugs. Join these two sleuthing economists as they follow the foreign aid money trail into the grasping hands of corrupt governments and shady underworld characters. Spend time with ingenious black marketeers as they game the international system. Follow the steep rise and fall of stock prices of companies with unseemly connections to Indonesia's former dictator. See for yourself what rainfall has to do with witch killings in Tanzania—and more.Fisman and Miguel use economics to get inside the heads of these'gangsters,'and propose solutions that can make a difference to the world's poor—including cash infusions to defuse violence in times of drought, and steering the World Bank away from aid programs most susceptible to corruption.In a new postscript, the authors look at how economists might use new tools to better understand, and fight back against, corruption and violence in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Take an entertaining walk on the dark side of global economic development with Economic Gangsters.

Corruption has been around for a very long time and will be around in the future unless governments can figure out effective ways to combat it. This is not going to be easy. Although the study of the causes and consequences of corruption has a long history in economics, going back 30 years to seminal contributions on what economists call rent seeking, related empirical work on quantifying the extent of corruption and putting a dollar sign on its economic effects has been limited. This is hardly surprising since most corruption is clandestine. Also, determining just how efficient government institutions are is not what would be called an exact science. As a consequence, corruption is notoriously hard to measure and empirical economic research on the question is fairly meager. The prevailing view is that corruption is harmful to economic growth. This new book presents the latest research from around the globe.

Economic research on corruption aims both to isolate the economic effects of quid pro quo deals between agents and third parties, and to suggest how legal and institutional reforms might curb harms and enhance benefits. In this comprehensive Handbook, top scholars in the field provide specially commissioned essays, both theoretical and empirical, exploring both types of research. The Handbook begins with an introductory essay by the editor, followed by two chapters written by leading exponents of cross-country research. However, the focus of the Handbook is on research at the micro level, where policy can be made and evaluated. These microeconomic studies fall into several overlapping categories. The first group includes studies that link corrupt incentives to institutional structures, particularly the organization of the state. The second draws implications from surveys of households or businesses and from controlled experiments. The third concentrates on particular sectors such as education, tax administration, public works, customs services, and pharmaceuticals. Finally, two chapters assess corruption in the transition away from socialism in Europe and Asia.