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Corruption and trust in political institutions in sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuelle Lavallée

    (DIAL, Paris)

  • Mireille Razafindrakoto

    (DIAL, IRD, Paris)

  • François Roubaud

    (DIAL, IRD, Paris)

Abstract

(english) This paper analyzes the impact of corruption on the extent of trust in political institutions using a rich collection of comparable data provided by the Afrobarometer surveys conducted in 18 sub-Saharan African countries. More specifically, we set out to test the “efficient grease” hypothesis that corruption can strengthen citizens’ trust since bribe paying and clientelism open the door to otherwise scarce and inaccessible services and subsidies, and that this increases institutional trust. Our findings reject this theoretical argument. We show that corruption never produces trust-enhancing effects regardless of the evaluation of public service quality. The results reveal how perceived and experienced corruption impact negatively, but differently, on citizens’ trust in political institutions. The adverse effect of perceived corruption decreases with the fall in public service quality, whereas the negative effect of experienced corruption decreases as public service quality increases. _________________________________ (français) Cet article explore les interactions entre la confiance institutionnelle et la corruption à partir d’un riche corpus d’enquêtes-ménages comparables : les enquêtes Afrobaromètre réalisées dans 18 pays d’Afrique sub-saharienne. Plus précisément, il teste les théories de l’ « huile dans les rouages » selon lesquelles la corruption peut renforcer la confiance des citoyens en leur permettant d’accéder à des services publics autrement inaccessibles. Nos résultats infirment clairement ces théories. Nous montrons que la corruption réduit clairement la confiance et ce quelque soit la qualité des services gouvernementaux. Ils suggèrent toutefois que l’expérience et la perception de la corruption ont des effets distincts sur la confiance institutionnelle.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuelle Lavallée & Mireille Razafindrakoto & François Roubaud, 2008. "Corruption and trust in political institutions in sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers DT/2008/07, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    • Handle: RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200807
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    Cited by:

    1. Fulvia Pennoni & Ewa Genge, 2020. "Analysing the course of public trust via hidden Markov models: a focus on the Polish society," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 29(2), pages 399-425, June.
    2. Gillanders, Robert & van der Werff, Lisa, 2020. "Corruption Experiences and Attitudes to Political, Interpersonal, and Domestic Violence," MPRA Paper 99949, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge, 2013. "Taxation and Development: a Review of Donor Support to Strengthen Tax Systems in Developing Countries," Working Papers 13683, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    4. Hasan Muhammad Baniamin & Ishtiaq Jamil, 2018. "Dynamics of Corruption and Citizens’ Trust in Anti-Corruption Agencies in Three South Asian Countries," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 381-398, September.
    5. Jahnke, Bjoern, 2015. "How does petty corruption affect tax morale in sub-Saharan Africa? An empirical analysis," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-564, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    6. Godwin Okafor, 2017. "The impact of political instability on the economic growth of ECOWAS member countries," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 208-229, March.
    7. Habibov, Nazim, 2016. "Effect of corruption on healthcare satisfaction in post-soviet nations: A cross-country instrumental variable analysis of twelve countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 119-124.
    8. Robert Gillanders & Olga Neselevska, 2018. "Public Sector Corruption and Trust in the Private Sector," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(8), pages 1288-1317, November.
    9. Razafindrakoto, Mireille & Roubaud, François, 2010. "Are International Databases on Corruption Reliable? A Comparison of Expert Opinion Surveys and Household Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1057-1069, August.
    10. Albert Solé-Ollé & Pilar Sorribas-Navarro, 2014. "Does Corruption Erode Trust in Government? Evidence from a Recent Surge of Local Scandals in Spain," CESifo Working Paper Series 4888, CESifo Group Munich.
    11. Jahnke, Björn & Weisser, Reinhard A., 2019. "How does petty corruption affect tax morale in Sub-Saharan Africa?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Mawusse K.N. Okey, 2016. "Corruption And Emigration Of Physicians From Africa," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 41(2), pages 27-52, June.
    13. Dalibor Rohac & Sahana Kumar & Andreas Johansson Heinö, 2017. "The wisdom of demagogues: institutions, corruption and support for authoritarian populists," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 382-396, October.
    14. Oana-Ramona Socoliuc (Guriță) & Nicoleta Sîrghi & Dănuţ-Vasile Jemna & Mihaela David, 2022. "Corruption and Population Health in the European Union Countries—An Institutionalist Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-20, April.
    15. Miller, Rebecca, 2015. "Natural resource extraction and political trust," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 165-172.
    16. Irena Schneider, 2017. "Can We Trust Measures of Political Trust? Assessing Measurement Equivalence in Diverse Regime Types," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 963-984, September.
    17. Isaac Addai & Chris Opoku-Agyeman & Helen Ghartey, 2013. "An Exploratory Study of Religion and Trust in Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 993-1012, February.
    18. Dutta, Nabamita & Kar, Saibal & Roy, Sanjukta, 2011. "Informal Sector and Corruption: An Empirical Investigation for India," IZA Discussion Papers 5579, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corruption; Institutions.;

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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