Abstract
Talking about corruption, its prevalence, causes, consequences, and differences across countries implies the ability to measure the phenomenon. For a long time, due to a lack of systematic investigations and data collection, the magnitude of corruption had to be assessed using anecdotal or case-study evidence. Since the 1980s, a number of national and international institutions as well as NGOs have devoted remarkable efforts to helping document the scale of corruption. Broadly speaking, there are three groups of approaches to assessing corruption. One group is based on the perception of different experts about the prevalence of corruption in a country or a sector. The second group relies on actual acts of corruption and draws either on justice records (or other potential sources) regarding corruption convictions or on individuals’ experiences with corruption. The last group uses Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys and Quantitative Service Delivery Surveys to reveal potential corruption.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
With a few exceptions (e.g., CPI , BEEPS , and WGI ), these ratings are produced by private risk-rating agencies and accessing them costs several thousand dollars (Mauro 1995).
References
Acemoglu, D. (1995). Reward Structures and the Allocation of Talent. European Economic Review, 39, 17–33.
Ahmad, N. (2001). Corruption Perception Indices: A Comparative Analysis. Pakistan Development Review, 40(4), 813–830.
Andersson, S., & Heywood, P. M. (2009). The Politics of Perception: Use and Abuse of Transparency International’s Approach to Measuring Corruption. Political Studies, 57(4), 746–767.
Arndt, Ch., & Oman Ch. (2006). Uses and Abuses of Governance Indicators. OECD Development Centre.
Bardhan, P. (1997). Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues. Journal of Economic Literature, 35(3), 1320–1346.
Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2001). Do People Mean What they Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data. American Economic Review, 91(2), 67–72.
Blackburn, K., Bose, N., & Haque, M. E. (2006). The Incidence and Persistence of Corruption in Economic Development. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 30(12), 2447–2467.
Cadot, O. (1987). Corruption as a Gamble. Journal of Public Economics, 33(2), 223–244.
Damania, R., Fredriksson, P. G., & Mani, M. (2004). The Persistence of Corruption and Regulatory Compliance Failures: Theory and Evidence. Public Choice, 121(3), 363–390.
Dilyan, D., & Ujhelyi, G. (2014). What Do Corruption Indices Measure? Economics and Politics, 26(2), 309–331.
Herzfeld, T., & Weiss, C. (2003). Corruption and Legal (In) Effectiveness: An Empirical Investigation. European Journal of Political Economy, 19(3), 621–632.
Herzfeld, T., & Weiss, C. (2007). Corruption Clubs: Empirical Evidence from Kernel Density Estimates. Applied Economics, 39(12), 1565–1572.
Hillman, A. L., & Katz, E. (1987). Hierarchical Structure and the Social Costs of Bribes and Transfers. Journal of Public Economics, 34(2), 129–142.
Jain, A. K. (2001). Corruption: A Review. Journal of Economic Surveys, 15(1), 71–121.
Lambsdorff, J. G. (1999). The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 1999: Framework Document. Berlin: Transparency International. www.Transparency.De.
Lui, F. T. (1986). A Dynamic Model of Corruption Deterrence. Journal of Public Economics, 31(2), 215–236.
Malito, D. V. (2014). Measuring Corruption Indicators and Indices. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper 13.
Mauro, P. (1995). Corruption and Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(3), 681–712.
Olken, B. A. (2009). Corruption Perceptions vs. Corruption Reality. Journal of Public Economics, 93(7), 950–964.
Razafindrakoto, M., & Roubaud, F. (2010). Are International Databases on Corruption Reliable? A Comparison of Expert Opinion Surveys and Household Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 38(8), 1057–1069.
Seldadyo, H., & De Haan, J. (2011). Is Corruption Really Persistent? Pacific Economic Review, 16(2), 192–206.
Svensson, J. (2005). Eight Questions About Corruption. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(3), 19–42.
Tirole, J. (1996). A Theory of Collective Reputations (With Applications to the Persistence of Corruption and to Firm Quality). Review of Economic Studies, 63(1), 1–22.
Weber, A. C. (2007). How Much Do Perceptions of Corruption Really Tell Us? Economics Discussion Papers 2007–19. http://www.Economics-Ejournal.Org/Economics/Discussionpapers. Accessed 02 April 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sekkat, K. (2018). Measurement Issues. In: Is Corruption Curable?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98518-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98518-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98517-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98518-3
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)