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Corruption, Attitudes, and Education: Survey Evidence from Nepal

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  • Truex, Rory
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    Abstract

    Summary Social norms can reduce the costs of corrupt behavior and push a society toward a high-corruption equilibrium, but what determines individual attitudes toward corruption? How does acceptance vary across different types of corrupt behavior? An original survey of Kathmandu residents shows substantial variation in attitudes toward different types of corrupt behavior. Overall, respondents generally agreed that large-scale bribery was unacceptable, but there was relative discord over behaviors involving petty corruption, gift giving, and favoritism. Education consistently emerged as the primary determinant of these attitudes, with more educated respondents showing less accepting attitudes across the range of corrupt behaviors. These findings suggest that improving access to education in developing countries may reduce the presence of corruption norms and ultimately corruption itself, although further research is needed to test the strength of these relationships outside of Nepal.

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    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal World Development.

    Volume (Year): 39 (2011)
    Issue (Month): 7 (July)
    Pages: 1133-1142

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    Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:7:p:1133-1142
    Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev

    Keywords: Corruption Social norms Education Corruption acceptance survey Nepal Asia;

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    Cited by:

    1. Lee, Wang-Sheng & Guven, Cahit, 2013. "Engaging in Corruption: The Influence of Cultural Values and Contagion Effects at the Micro Level," IZA Discussion Papers 7685, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    2. Artjoms Ivlevs & Timothy Hinks, 2013. "Global economic crisis and corruption experience: Evidence from transition economies," Working Papers 20131315, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    3. Dimant, Eugen, 2014. "The Antecedents and Effects of Corruption - A Reassessment of Current (Empirical) Findings," MPRA Paper 60947, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta C Nwachukwu, 2015. "The incremental effect of education on corruption: evidence of synergy from lifelong learning," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2288-2308.
    5. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2014. "The Role of Lifelong Learning in Political Stability and Non-violence: Evidence from Africa," MPRA Paper 64459, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Dimant, Eugen & Schulte, Thorben, 2016. "The Nature of Corruption - An Interdisciplinary Perspective," MPRA Paper 69838, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Artjoms Ivlevs & Timothy Hinks, 2015. "Global economic crisis and corruption," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 425-445, March.
    8. Breen, Michael & Gillanders, Robert & McNulty, Gemma & Suzuki, Akisato, 2015. "Gender and corruption in business," MPRA Paper 63850, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Tetsushi Sonobe, 2012. "An Inquiry into Corruption Norms: Survey Data of GRIPS Alumni," GRIPS Discussion Papers 12-15, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    10. Shafiq, M. Najeeb, 2015. "Aspects of Moral Change in India, 1990–2006: Evidence from Public Attitudes toward Tax Evasion and Bribery," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 136-148.
    11. Hui Li & Ting Gong & Hanyu Xiao, 2016. "The Perception of Anti-corruption Efficacy in China: An Empirical Analysis," Social Indicators Research- An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 885-903, February.
    12. Timothy Hinks & Artjoms Ivlevs, 2012. "Bribing Behaviour and Sample Selection: Evidence from Post-Socialist countries and Western Europe," Working Papers 20121208, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    13. Anita K Zonebia & Arief Anshory Yusuf & Heriyaldi, 2015. "Income and Education as the determinants of Anti-Corruption Attitudes: Evidence from Indonesia," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 201502, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Apr 2015.
    14. Michael Jetter & Christopher F. Parmeter, 2016. "Uncovering the determinants of corruption," Working Papers 2016-02, University of Miami, Department of Economics.

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