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Public Sector Corruption and Natural Disasters: A Potentially Deadly Interaction

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Author Info
Monica Escaleras () (Department of Economics, Florida Atlantic University)
Nejat Anbarci (Department of Economics, Florida International University)
Charles Register (Department of Economics, Florida Atlantic University)

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Abstract

A number of recent studies have, separately, addressed the effects of public sector corruption and natural disasters. In this paper, we intersect these lines of research to assess whether corruption in the public sector plays a role in the havoc wrought by large scale natural disasters, using major earthquakes as the example. We first develop a brief theoretical model of the relation between these two variables and then empirically test the proposition by analyzing 344 major quakes occurring in 42 countries during the 1975 through 2003 period. We use a Negative Binomial estimation strategy that takes into account the endogenous nature of corruption and controls for a number of other factors such as earthquake frequency, magnitude, distance from population centers, and a country’s level of development which have been shown to influence a quake’s destructiveness. The results provide strong evidence that public sector corruption is both positively and significantly related to the death toll a given earthquake takes on a population.

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File URL: http://home.fau.edu/mescaler/web/working%20papers/quakecor8.30.06.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function: Revised version, 2006
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University in its series Working Papers with number 06005.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2006
Date of revision: Aug 2006
Handle: RePEc:fal:wpaper:06005

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Related research
Keywords: Earthquake fatalities; corruption; institutional variables;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
P16 - Economic Systems - - Capitalist Systems - - - Political Economy of Capitalism

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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  1. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-79, April.
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  2. Matthew E. Kahn, 2005. "The Death Toll from Natural Disasters: The Role of Income, Geography, and Institutions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(2), pages 271-284, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Pranab Bardhan, 1997. "Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1320-1346, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Gökhan Karahan & R. Coats & William Shughart, 2006. "Corrupt political jurisdictions and voter participation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 87-106, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Mauro, Paolo, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Lien, Da-Hsiang Donald, 1986. "A note on competitive bribery games," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 337-341. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Nejat Anbarci & Monica Escaleras & Charles Register, 2006. "Traffic Fatalities and Public Sector Corruption," Working Papers 06004, Department of Economics, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, revised Jul 2006. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Beck, Paul J. & Maher, Michael W., 1986. "A comparison of bribery and bidding in thin markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-5. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Lorenzo Pellegrini & Reyer Gerlagh, 2004. "Corruption's Effect on Growth and its Transmission Channels," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(3), pages 429-456, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Bliss, Christopher & Di Tella, Rafael, 1997. "Does Competition Kill Corruption?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 1001-23, October.
  11. Mo, Pak Hung, 2001. "Corruption and Economic Growth," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 66-79, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-63, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Rodney Ramcharan, 2005. "How Big Are The Benefits of Economic Diversification?: Evidence from Earthquakes," IMF Working Papers 05/48, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  14. Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat, 2005. "Does corruption grease or sand the wheels of growth?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 69-97, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. William Shughart, 2006. "Katrinanomics: The politics and economics of disaster relief," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 31-53, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Danila Serra, 2006. "Empirical determinants of corruption: A sensitivity analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 225-256, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Alberto Alesina & Beatrice Weder, 2002. "Do Corrupt Governments Receive Less Foreign Aid?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1126-1137, September. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Treisman, Daniel, 2000. "The causes of corruption: a cross-national study," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 399-457, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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