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Oil, politics, and “Corrupt Bastards”

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  • James, Alexander
  • Rivera, Nathaly M.

Abstract

Does oil corrupt? We test this theory using forty years of U.S. state-level data measuring corruption as both convictions of corruption and the frequency that words like “corrupt”, “fraud”, and “bribe”—and their iterations—appear in newspapers. We find that oil-rich U.S. states experience more corruption than their oil-poor counterparts, but only during periods of high oil prices, suggesting a causal relationship. Results are robust to a variety of modeling assumptions and specifications. Implications and mechanisms are discussed.

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  • James, Alexander & Rivera, Nathaly M., 2022. "Oil, politics, and “Corrupt Bastards”," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:111:y:2022:i:c:s009506962100139x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2021.102599
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    1. Lenin H. Balza & Camilo De Los Rios & Nathaly Rivera, 2022. "Digging Deep: Resource Exploitation and Higher Education," Working Papers wp541, University of Chile, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Oil shocks; Rent seeking; Political economy; Political corruption; Rentier state;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q33 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Resource Booms (Dutch Disease)
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption

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