Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Determinants of urban political corruption in local governments

  • Published:
Crime, Law and Social Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the first years of the 21st century, there was a building boom in Spain, which triggered many corruption cases in municipalities. This paper contributes to the scarce literature on this issue by analysing the impact of socio-economic and financial factors on urban political corruption. Our sample covers the 110 Spanish largest municipalities for 2000–2009. The findings indicate that higher politicians’ salaries and more transparency are connected with lower corruption levels. In this way, we confirm theoretical assumptions that posit that municipalities where politicians have higher salaries present less corruption cases. Finally, municipal transparency should be enhanced, because it is related to lower corruption.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Agranoff, R. (2010). Local governments and their intergovernmental networks in federalizing Spain. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

  2. Agresti, A. (2010). Analysis of ordinal categorical data. New Jersey: Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Alt, J. E., & Lassen, D. D. (2003). The political economy of institutions and corruption in American states. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 15(3), 341–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Alt, J. E., Lassen, D. D., & Skilling, D. (2002). Fiscal transparency, gubernatorial approval, and the scale of government: evidence from the states. State Politics & Policy Quarterly, 2(3), 230–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Amundsen, I. (1999). Political Corruption: An Introduction to the Issues. Chr. Michelsen Institute Working Paper N° 7.

  6. Ashworth, J., Geys, B., & Heyndels, B. (2005). Government weakness and local public Debt development in flemish municipalities. International Tax and Public Finance, 12(4), 395–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bac, M. (2001). Corruption, connections and transparency: does a better screen imply a better scene? Public Choice, 107(1–2), 87–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Grimes, J. M. (2010). Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies. Government Information Quarterly, 27(3), 264–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Beylis, G., Finan, F., & Mazzocco, M. (2012). Understanding corruption: Theory and evidence from the audits of local. United States: UCLA and UC-Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Billger, S. M., & Goel, R. K. (2009). Do existing corruption levels matter in controlling corruption?: Cross-country quantile regression estimates. Journal of Development Economics, 90(2), 299–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Braun, M., & Di Tella, R. (2004). Inflation, inflation variability, and corruption. Economics & Politics, 16(1), 77–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Damania, R., Fredriksson, P. G., & Mani, M. (2004). The persistence of corruption and regulatory compliance failures: theory and evidence. Public Choice, 121(3–4), 363–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. European Commission (2013). Special Eurobarometer 397, Corruption. Brussels

  14. European Commission (2014a). Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. Brussels

  15. European Commission (2014b). Spain to the EU Anti-Corruption Report. Brussels.

  16. Ferraz, C., Finan, F. (2007). Electoral accountability and corruption in local governments: evidence from audit reports. Germany: IZA Discussion Papers No. 2843.

  17. Fréchette, G. R. (2006). Panel data analysis of the time-varying determinants of corruption. Montréal: CIRANO working paper.

  18. García, M. G., Jiménez, F., & Villoria, M. (2013). Building local integrity systems in southern Europe: the case of urban local corruption in Spain. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 79(4), 618–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Glaeser, E. L., & Saks, R. E. (2006). Corruption in America. Journal of Public Economics, 90(6), 1053–1072.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Golden, M. A., & Picci, L. (2005). Proposal for a new measure of corruption, illustrated with Italian data. Economics & Politics, 17(1), 37–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Herzfeld, T., & Weiss, C. (2003). Corruption and legal (in) effectiveness: an empirical investigation. European Journal of Political Economy, 19(3), 621–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Hill, K. Q. (2003). Democratization and corruption systematic evidence from the American States. American Politics Research, 31(6), 613–631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Jerez, L. M., Martin, V. O., & Pérez, R. (2012). Aproximación a una geografía de la corrupción urbanística en España. Ería, 87, 5–18.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Jiménez, F., Villoria, M., & García-Quesada, M. (2012). Badly designed institutions, informal rules and perverse incentives: local government corruption in Spain. Lex localis-Journal of Local Self-Government, 10(4), 363–381.

    Google Scholar 

  25. La Porta, R., Lopez de Silanes, F., Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. (1999). The quality of government. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 15(1), 222–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Lindstedt, C., Naurin, D. (2006). Transparency Against Corruption-A Cross-Country Analysis”, paper presented at the IPSA 20th World Congress, Fukuoka, Japan, 9–13 July, http://paperroom.ipsa.org/papers/paper_5232.pdf

  27. Martini, M. (2014). Local Integrity: Allowances, Interest And Asset Declarations, And Revolving Door. Transparency International.

  28. Meier, K. J., & Holbrook, T. M. (1992). I seen my opportunities and I Took’Em: political corruption in the American states. The Journal of Politics, 54(1), 135–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Mouritzen, P. E., & Svara, J. H. (2002). Leaderhsip at the Apex. Politicians and administrators in Western local governments. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburgh Press.

  30. Persson, T., Tabellini, G., & Trebbi, F. (2003). Electoral rules and corruption. Journal of the European Economic Association, 1(4), 958–989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Pettersson-Lidbom, P. (2001). An empirical investigation of the strategic use of debt. The Journal of Political Economy, 109(3), 570–583.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Pilapitiya, T. (2004). The Impact of corruption on the human rights based approach to development. Oslo: United Nations Development Programme, Oslo Governance Centre.

  33. Romero, J., Jiménez, F., & Villoria, M. (2012). (Un)sustainable territories: causes of the speculative bubble in Spain (1996–2010) and its territorial, environmental, and sociopolitical consequences. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 30(3), 467–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Rose-Ackerman, S. (1999). Corruption and government: Causes, consequences, and reform. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  35. Seldadyo, H., & de Haan, J. (2006). The determinants of corruption. A literature survey and new evidence. Paper prepared for the 2006 EPCS conference, Turku, Finland, 20–23 April 2006.

  36. Serra, D. (2006). Empirical determinants of corruption: a sensitivity analysis. Public Choice, 126(1–2), 225–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Shabbir, G., & Anwar, M. (2007). Determinants of corruption in developing countries. The Pakistan Development Review, 46(4), 751–764.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Shim, D. C., & Eom, T. H. (2009). Anticorruption effects of information communication and technology (ICT) and social capital. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 75(1), 99–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. W. (1993). Corruption. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(3), 599–617.

  40. Tellier, G. (2006). Public expenditures in Canadian provinces: an empirical study of politico-economic interactions. Public Choice, 126(3–4), 367–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Treisman, D. (2000). The causes of corruption: a cross-national study. Journal of Public Economics, 76(3), 399–457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Van Rijckeghem, C., & Weder, B. (2001). Bureaucratic corruption and the rate of temptation: do wages in the civil service affect corruption, and by how much? Journal of Development Economics, 65(2), 307–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Wraith, R., & Simpkins, E. (1963). Corruption in developing countries. London: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ECO2010-20522).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Murcia-Campus of Espinardo, 30100, Espinardo, Murcia, Spain

    Bernardino Benito, María-Dolores Guillamón & Francisco Bastida

Authors
  1. Bernardino Benito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. María-Dolores Guillamón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Francisco Bastida
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bernardino Benito.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Benito, B., Guillamón, MD. & Bastida, F. Determinants of urban political corruption in local governments. Crime Law Soc Change 63, 191–210 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-015-9563-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-015-9563-9

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation