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Political Polarization as a Constraint on Corruption: A Cross-national Comparison

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  • Brown, David S.
  • Touchton, Michael
  • Whitford, Andrew
Abstract
Summary Efforts to explain corruption have increased dramatically in recent years. The interest stems from the increasing weight economists assign to corruption when explaining economic growth. A great deal of the research focuses on how political institutions influence perceptions of corruption. We move this debate in a new direction by addressing a previously ignored dimension: ideological polarization. We contend perceptions of corruption are determined not only by specific institutional features of the political system--such as elements of voting systems, ballot structures, or separation of powers--but by who sits at the controls. We employ panel data from a broad variety of countries to test our theoretical argument. Contrary to recent findings by both economists and political scientists, we show that ideological polarization predicts perceptions of corruption.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown, David S. & Touchton, Michael & Whitford, Andrew, 2011. "Political Polarization as a Constraint on Corruption: A Cross-national Comparison," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1516-1529, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:9:p:1516-1529
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    2. Héctor Bellido & Lorena Olmos & Juan A. Román-Aso, 2021. "The influence of government ideology on corruption: the impact of the Great Recession," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(2), pages 677-708, July.
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    6. Michael Breen & Robert Gillanders & Gemma Mcnulty & Akisato Suzuki, 2017. "Gender and Corruption in Business," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1486-1501, September.
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    8. Rajeev K. Goel & James W. Saunoris, 2017. "Political uncertainty and international corruption," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(18), pages 1298-1306, October.
    9. Po-Yuan Shih & Cheng-Ping Cheng & Dong-Her Shih & Ting-Wei Wu & David C. Yen, 2022. "Who Is the Most Effective Country in Anti-Corruption? From the Perspective of Open Government Data and Gross Domestic Product," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-20, June.
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    11. Mickael Melki & Andrew Pickering, 2022. "Ideological polarization and government debt," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(4), pages 811-833, August.
    12. B. Heller, William & P. Kyriacou, Andreas & Roca-Sagalés, Oriol, 2014. "Legislative Vetoes and Corruption: The Effect of Formal Checks on Governance," MPRA Paper 61651, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Van-Ha Le & Jakob de Haan & Erik Dietzenbacher & Jakob de Haan, 2013. "Do Higher Government Wages Reduce Corruption? Evidence Based on a Novel Dataset," CESifo Working Paper Series 4254, CESifo.
    14. Yuriy O. Gaivoronskiy, 2015. "The Influence of Political Competition on the Efficiency of the Regional Executives in Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 28/PS/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
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    17. Rune Sørensen, 2014. "Political competition, party polarization, and government performance," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 427-450, December.
    18. Benito, Bernardino & Guillamón, María-Dolores & Ríos, Ana-María & Bastida, Francisco, 2018. "Can salaries and re-election prevent political corruption? An empirical evidence," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 19-27.
    19. Radek Náplava, 2020. "Institutional Quality and Income Inequality: Evidence from Post-Soviet Countries," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 100-112.
    20. Stojanovikj, Martin, 2022. "Can inflation targeting reduce price information asymmetry and alleviate corruptive behavior? Evidence from developing countries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(3).
    21. Kristyna Chabova, 2017. "Measuring corruption in Europe: public opinion surveys and composite indices," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1877-1900, July.
    22. Juan Carlos Henao & Carolina Isaza Espinosa, 2018. "Corrupción en Colombia Tomo 1 Corrupción, política y sociedad," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1024, htpr_v3_i.

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