IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jnlpup/v34y2014i03p507-529_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Close but no Cigar†: the measurement of corruption

Author

Listed:
  • Heywood, Paul M.
  • Rose, Jonathan

Abstract

The financial cost of corruption has recently been estimated at more than 5 per cent of global GDP. Yet, despite the widespread agreement that corruption is one of the most pressing policy challenges facing world leaders, it remains as widespread today, possibly even more so, as it was when concerted international attention began being devoted to the issue following the end of the Cold War. In reality, we still have a relatively weak understanding of how best to measure corruption and how to develop effective guides to action from such measurement. This paper provides a detailed review of existing approaches to measuring corruption, focusing in particular on perception-based and non-perceptual approaches. We highlight a gap between the conceptualisation of corruption and its measurement, and argue that there is a tension between the demands of policy-makers and anti-corruption activists on the one hand, and the motivations of academic researchers on the other. The search for actionable answers on the part of the former sits uncomfortably with the latter’s focus on the inherent complexity of corruption.

Suggested Citation

  • Heywood, Paul M. & Rose, Jonathan, 2014. "“Close but no Cigar†: the measurement of corruption," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 507-529, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jnlpup:v:34:y:2014:i:03:p:507-529_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0143814X14000099/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan Hunady, 2017. "Individual and institutional determinants of corruption in the EU countries: the problem of its tolerance," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(1), pages 139-157, April.
    2. Stephen Morse, 2018. "Focussing on the Extremes of Good and Bad: Media Reporting of Countries Ranked Via Index-Based League Tables," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 631-652, September.
    3. Eugen Dimant & Guglielmo Tosato, 2018. "Causes And Effects Of Corruption: What Has Past Decade'S Empirical Research Taught Us? A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 335-356, April.
    4. Giulia Mugellini & Jean‐Patrick Villeneuve & Marlen Heide, 2021. "Monitoring sustainable development goals and the quest for high‐quality indicators: Learning from a practical evaluation of data on corruption," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 1257-1275, November.
    5. Nicholas Charron & Paola Annoni, 2021. "What is the Influence of News Media on People’s Perception of Corruption? Parametric and Non-Parametric Approaches," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 1139-1165, February.
    6. J. Muzurura, 2019. "Foreign Direct Investment in Zimbabwe: The Role of Uncertainty, Exports, Cost of Capital, Corruption and Market Size," The Economics and Finance Letters, Conscientia Beam, vol. 6(1), pages 9-24.
    7. J'anos Kert'esz & Johannes Wachs, 2020. "Complexity science approach to economic crime," Papers 2008.12364, arXiv.org.
    8. Herzfeld, Thomas & Kulyk, Iryna & Wolz, Axel, 2018. "Is Agribusiness Different? Firm-Level Evidence of Perceived Corruption in Post-Soviet Countries," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 56(6), pages 504-521.
    9. José-Miguel Bello y Villarino, 2021. "Measuring Corruption: A Critical Analysis of the Existing Datasets and Their Suitability for Diachronic Transnational Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 709-747, September.
    10. Chiara Amini & Elodie Douarin, 2020. "Corruption and Life Satisfaction in Transition: Is Corruption a Social Norm in Eastern Europe?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 723-766, September.
    11. Andreas Bergh & Günther Fink & Richard Öhrvall, 2017. "More politicians, more corruption: evidence from Swedish municipalities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 483-500, September.
    12. Michener, Gregory, 2015. "Policy Evaluation via Composite Indexes: Qualitative Lessons from International Transparency Policy Indexes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 184-196.
    13. Haass, Felix & Ottmann, Martin, 2017. "Profits from Peace: The Political Economy of Power-Sharing and Corruption," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 60-74.
    14. Johannes Wachs & Mih'aly Fazekas & J'anos Kert'esz, 2019. "Corruption Risk in Contracting Markets: A Network Science Perspective," Papers 1909.08664, arXiv.org.
    15. Calogero Guccio & Domenico Lisi & Ilde Rizzo, 2019. "When the purchasing officer looks the other way: on the waste effects of debauched local environment in public works execution," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 205-236, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jnlpup:v:34:y:2014:i:03:p:507-529_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/pup .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.