IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v41y2017i7p662-669.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corruption in Africa: What role does ICT diffusion play

Author

Listed:
  • Sassi, Seifallah
  • Ben Ali, Mohamed Sami

Abstract

This paper assesses the determinants of corruption in Africa and focuses on the effect of ICT diffusion on corruption. Using a sample of 47 African countries over the period from 1996 to 2014, empirical findings provide evidence of high corruption inertia in Africa and show that the rule of law is the strongest factor determining the level of corruption. Results reveal that African economies can benefit from the anti-corruption effects of ICT adoption only once a threshold of rule of law is reached. Thus, policies based on the use of the internet and mobile phones are effective in combating corruption in Africa but need to be strengthened by greater law enforcement.

Suggested Citation

  • Sassi, Seifallah & Ben Ali, Mohamed Sami, 2017. "Corruption in Africa: What role does ICT diffusion play," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 662-669.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:41:y:2017:i:7:p:662-669
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2017.05.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596117300873
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2017.05.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huang, Chiung-Ju, 2016. "Is corruption bad for economic growth? Evidence from Asia-Pacific countries," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 247-256.
    2. Swamy, Anand & Knack, Stephen & Lee, Young & Azfar, Omar, 2001. "Gender and corruption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 25-55, February.
    3. Bryan W Husted, 1999. "Wealth, Culture, and Corruption," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 339-359, June.
    4. Daniel Lederman & Norman V. Loayza & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "Accountability And Corruption: Political Institutions Matter," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 1-35, March.
    5. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    6. Miguel Braun & Rafael Di tella, 2004. "Inflation, Inflation Variability, and Corruption," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 77-100, March.
    7. Mehmet Ugur, 2014. "Corruption'S Direct Effects On Per-Capita Income Growth: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 472-490, July.
    8. Axel Dreher & Friedrich Schneider, 2010. "Corruption and the shadow economy: an empirical analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 215-238, July.
    9. Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Weill, Laurent, 2010. "Is Corruption an Efficient Grease?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 244-259, March.
    10. Mr. Carlos A Leite & Jens Weidmann, 1999. "Does Mother Nature Corrupt? Natural Resources, Corruption, and Economic Growth," IMF Working Papers 1999/085, International Monetary Fund.
    11. repec:bla:ecopol:v:17:y:2005:i::p:1-35 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Blackburn, Keith & Powell, Jonathan, 2011. "Corruption, inflation and growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(3), pages 225-227.
    13. Pieroni, L. & d'Agostino, G., 2013. "Corruption and the effects of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 54-72.
    14. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee & Gour G. Goswami, 2005. "The Impact of Corruption on the Black Market Premium," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(3), pages 483-493, January.
    15. de Jong, Eelke & Bogmans, Christian, 2011. "Does corruption discourage international trade?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 385-398, June.
    16. Diaby, Aboubacar & Sylwester, Kevin, 2014. "Bureaucratic competition and public corruption: Evidence from transition countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 75-87.
    17. Saha, Shrabani & Ben Ali, Mohamed Sami, 2017. "Corruption and Economic Development: New Evidence from the Middle Eastern and North African Countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 83-95.
    18. Mohsin Habib & Leon Zurawicki, 2002. "Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 291-307, June.
    19. Schneider,Friedrich & Enste,Dominik H., 2016. "The Shadow Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316600894, September.
    20. Nasr G. Elbahnasawy & Charles F. Revier, 2012. "The Determinants of Corruption: Cross-Country-Panel-Data Analysis," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 50(4), pages 311-333, December.
    21. Elbahnasawy, Nasr G., 2014. "E-Government, Internet Adoption, and Corruption: An Empirical Investigation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 114-126.
    22. Rafael Di Tella & Alberto Ades, 1999. "Rents, Competition, and Corruption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 982-993, September.
    23. Richard Damania & Per Fredriksson & Muthukumara Mani, 2004. "The Persistence of Corruption and Regulatory Compliance Failures: Theory and Evidence," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 363-390, February.
    24. Sanjeev Gupta & Hamid Davoodi & Rosa Alonso-Terme, 2002. "Does corruption affect income inequality and poverty?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 23-45, March.
    25. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    26. Ben Ali Mohamed Sami & Sassi Seifallah, 2016. "The corruption-inflation nexus: evidence from developed and developing countries," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 125-144, January.
    27. Tariq Majeed, Muhammad, 2014. "Corruption and Trade," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 29, pages 759-782.
    28. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Ximei & Latif, Zahid & Danish, & Latif, Shahid & Mahmood, Nasir, 2021. "The corruption-emissions nexus: Do information and communication technologies make a difference?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. Freyburg, Tina & Garbe, Lisa & Wavre, Véronique, 2022. "The political power of internet business: A comprehensive dataset of Telecommunications Ownership and Control (TOSCO)," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Online fi, pages 1-1.
    3. Talla Fokam, Dieu Ne Dort & Kamga, Benjamin Fomba & Nchofoung, Tii N., 2023. "Information and communication technologies and employment in developing countries: Effects and transmission channels," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).
    4. Henri Njangang & Alim Beleck & Sosson Tadadjeu & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Working Papers 21/057, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    5. Adam, Isabelle & Fazekas, Mihály, 2021. "Are emerging technologies helping win the fight against corruption? A review of the state of evidence," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    6. Jiaping Zhang & Mingwang Cheng & Xinyu Wei & Xiaomei Gong, 2018. "Does Mobile Phone Penetration Affect Divorce Rate? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Kumar Shaurav & Badri Narayan Rath, 2024. "The Linkage Between ICT Development and Corruption in the Case of Emerging Market Economies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 6604-6616, June.
    8. Jahanbakht, Mohammad & Mostafa, Romel, 2020. "Coevolution of policy and strategy in the development of the mobile telecommunications industry in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).
    9. Njangang, Henri & Beleck, Alim & Tadadjeu, Sosson & Kamguia, Brice, 2022. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    10. Henri Njangang & Alim Beleck & Sosson Tadadjeu & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/057, African Governance and Development Institute..
    11. Dzator, Janet & Acheampong, Alex O. & Appiah-Otoo, Isaac & Dzator, Michael, 2023. "Leveraging digital technology for development: Does ICT contribute to poverty reduction?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(4).
    12. Tina Freyburg & Lisa Garbe & Véronique Wavre, 2023. "The political power of internet business: A comprehensive dataset of Telecommunications Ownership and Control (TOSCO)," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 573-600, July.
    13. Andreas Freytag & Muhammad Faraz Riaz, 2021. "Corruption and Access to Socio-Economic Services in Africa," CESifo Working Paper Series 8882, CESifo.
    14. Migbaru A. Workneh, 2020. "Gender Inequality, Governance, and Poverty in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), pages 150-174, June.
    15. Sohag, Kazi & Riad Shams, S.M. & Darusalam, Darusalam & Devalle, Alain, 2021. "Information digitalisation and local institutional agility: evidence from ASEAN countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    16. Honoré Tekam Oumbé & Ronald Djeunankan & Alain Mekia Ndzana, 2023. "Does information and communication technologies affect economic complexity?," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 1-25, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Judge, William Q. & McNatt, D. Brian & Xu, Weichu, 2011. "The antecedents and effects of national corruption: A meta-analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 93-103, January.
    3. Bin Dong & Benno Torgler, 2010. "The Consequences of Corruption: Evidence from China," Working Papers 2010.73, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Bin Dong & Benno Torgler, 2010. "The Consequences of Corruption: Evidence from China," Working Papers 2010.73, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    5. You, Jong-Sung & Khagram, Sanjeev, 2004. "Inequality and Corruption," Working Paper Series rwp04-001, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    6. Gabriel Caldas Montes & Paulo Henrique Luna, 2021. "Fiscal transparency, legal system and perception of the control on corruption: empirical evidence from panel data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 2005-2037, April.
    7. Rajul Awasthi & Nihal Bayraktar, 2015. "Can tax simplification help lower tax corruption?," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 5(2), pages 297-330, December.
    8. Blaise Gnimassoun, Joseph Keneck Massil, 2019. "Determinants of corruption: can we put all countries in the same basket?," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 16(2), pages 239-276, December.
    9. Olmos, Lorena & Bellido, Héctor & Román-Aso, Juan A., 2020. "The effects of mega-events on perceived corruption," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. d'Agostino, G. & Dunne, J.P. & Pieroni, L., 2016. "Corruption and growth in Africa," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 71-88.
    11. Héctor Bellido & Lorena Olmos & Juan A. Román-Aso, 2021. "The influence of government ideology on corruption: the impact of the Great Recession," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(2), pages 677-708, July.
    12. Mohammad Abdul Munim Joarder & Monir Uddin Ahmed, 2023. "Does natural resource abundance breed corruption? The role of political institutions," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(9), pages 1-43, September.
    13. Tran, My Thi Ha, 2021. "Public Sector Management And Corruption In Asean Plus Six," OSF Preprints stxw4, Center for Open Science.
    14. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2017. "Does social media reduce corruption?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-71.
    15. Ella Hugo & David A. Savage & Friedrich Schneider & Benno Torgler, 2021. "Two sides of the same coin or two different coins? Exploring the duality of corruption in Latin America," CREMA Working Paper Series 2021-26, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    16. Graf Lambsdorff, Johann, 2005. "Consequences and causes of corruption: What do we know from a cross-section of countries?," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-34-05, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    17. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2020. "Corruption and equity market performance: International comparative evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corruption; Bribery; ICT diffusion; Rule of law; African countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:eee:telpol:v:41:y:2017:i:7:p:662-669. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    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.