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The power of information : evidence from a newspaper campaign to reduce capture

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Author Info
Reinikka, Ritva
Svensson, Jakob

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Abstract

The authors exploit an unusual policy experiment to evaluate the effects of increased public access to information as a tool to reduce capture and corruption of public funds. In the late 1990s, the Ugandan government initiated a newspaper campaign to boost schools'and parents'ability to monitor local officials'handling of a large school-grant program. The results were striking: capture was reduced from 80 percent in 1995 to less than 20 percent in 2001. The authors use distance to the nearest newspaper outlet as an instrument for exposure to the campaign. Proximity to a newspaper outlet is positively correlated with the head teachers'knowledge about rules governing the grant program and the timing of releases of funds from the center, but uncorrelated with test scores of general ability. A strong (reduced-form) relationship exists between proximity to a newspaper outlet and reduction in capture of school funds since the newspaper campaign started. This pattern contrasts sharply with the outcomes in the five-year period prior to the campaign. Instrumenting for head teachers'knowledge about the grant program, the authors find that public access to information is a powerful deterrent to capture at the local level.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3239.

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Date of creation: 01 Mar 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3239

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Keywords: Public Health Promotion; Teaching and Learning; ICT Policy and Strategies; Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Primary Education; Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Teaching and Learning; TF054599-PHRD-KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: WATER MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT; Primary Education; ICT Policy and Strategies;

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  2. Brunetti, Aymo & Weder, Beatrice, 2003. "A free press is bad news for corruption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1801-1824, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Reinikka, Ritva & Svensson, Jakob, 2003. "Survey techniques to measure and explain corruption," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3071, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  6. Ades, Alberto & Di Tella, Rafael, 1997. "National Champions and Corruption: Some Unpleasant Interventionist Arithmetic," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1023-42, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. repec:fth:prinin:317 is not listed on IDEAS
  9. Angrist, Joshua D. & Krueger, Alan B., 1999. "Empirical strategies in labor economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 23, pages 1277-1366 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Ritva Reinikka & Jakob Svensson, 2004. "Local Capture: Evidence From a Central Government Transfer Program in Uganda," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(2), pages 678-704, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini & Francesco Trebbi, 2001. "Electoral Rules and Corruption," NBER Working Papers 8154, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Svensson, Jakob, 2000. "Foreign aid and rent-seeking," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 437-461, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Di Tella, Rafael & Schargrodsky, Ernesto, 2003. "The Role of Wages and Auditing during a Crackdown on Corruption in the City of Buenos Aires," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(1), pages 269-92, April.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Björkman, Martina & Reinikka, Ritva & Svensson, Jakob, 2006. "Local Accountability," Seminar Papers 749, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies. [Downloadable!]
  2. Thomas Barnebeck Andersen & Jeanet Bentzen & Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Pablo Selaya, 2008. "On the Impact of Digital Technologies on Corruption: Evidence from U.S. States and Across Countries," Discussion Papers 08-11, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Bjorkman, Martina & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Power to the people : evidence from a randomized field experiment of a community-based monitoring project in Uganda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4268, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  4. Klaus Abbink & Matthew Ellman, 2004. "The Donor Problem," Economics Working Papers 796, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jan 2005. [Downloadable!]
  5. Robert P. Inman & Daniel L. Rubinfeld, 2008. "Federal Institutions and the Democratic Transition: Learning from South Africa," NBER Working Papers 13733, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Svaleryd, Helena & Vlachos, Jonas, 2007. "Political Rents in a Non-Corrupt Democracy," Working Paper Series 698, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 26 Mar 2008. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Deininger, Klaus & Ayalew, Daniel & Yamano, Takashi, 2006. "Legal knowledge and economic development : the case of land rights in Uganda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3868, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Olivier Armantier & Amadou Boly, 2008. "Can Corruption Be Studied in the Lab? Comparing a Field and a Lab Experiment," CIRANO Working Papers 2008s-26, CIRANO. [Downloadable!]
  9. Schaeffer, Michael & Yilmaz, Serdar, 2008. "Strengthening local government budgeting and accountability," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4767, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  10. Bourguignon, Fran.ois & Sundberg, Mark, 2006. "Absorptive Capacity and Achieving the MDGs," Working Papers RP2006/47, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
  11. Djankov, Simeon & La Porta, Rafael & López-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2009. "Disclosure by Politicians," CEPR Discussion Papers 7168, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Pande, Rohini, 2007. "Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 6273, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Jean Bourdon & Markus Frölich & Katharina Michaelowa, 2007. "Teacher Shortages, Teacher Contracts and their Impacton Education in Africa," Post-Print halshs-00150147_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Nathalie Francken & Bart Minten & Johan F.M. Swinnen, 2005. "The Impact of Media and Monotoring on Corruptin in Decentralized Public Programs: Evidence from Madagascar," LICOS Discussion Papers 15505, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
  15. Pande, Rohini, 2007. "Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries," Working Paper Series rwp07-020, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
  16. Martina Björkman, 2007. "Does Money Matter for Student Performance? Evidence from a Grant Program in Uganda," Working Papers 326, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University. [Downloadable!]
  17. Dean Yang, 2005. "Integrity for Hire: An Analysis of a Widespread Program for Combating Customs Corruption," Working Papers 525, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan. [Downloadable!]
  18. Reinikka, Ritva & Svensson, Jakob, 2003. "Survey techniques to measure and explain corruption," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3071, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  19. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera & Miguel Urquiola, 2006. "Socioeconomic status or noise? Tradeoffs in the generation of school quality information," Documentos de Trabajo 225, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Björkman, Martina & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Power to the People: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment of a Community-Based Monitoring Project in Uganda," CEPR Discussion Papers 6344, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Kaufmann, Daniel & Bellver, Ana, 2005. "Transparenting Transparency: Intial Empirics and Policy Applications," MPRA Paper 8188, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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