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Persistent Court Corruption

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  • Philip Bond

Abstract

Corruption among court officials varies widely across countries and exhibits considerable intertemporal persistence. I present a model of court corruption in which there are multiple equilibria, differentiated by corruption levels. In the model, courts provide incentives for individuals to take/abstain from certain actions. High corruption levels undermine incentive provision and necessitate larger penalties. Larger penalties in turn increase the potential bribes that a court official can collect and so attract more dishonest officials to court employment. This feedback effect generates multiple equilibria. Paying court officials wages sufficiently above the market‐clearing rate can eliminate the high corruption equilibrium.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Bond, 2008. "Persistent Court Corruption," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(531), pages 1333-1353, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:118:y:2008:i:531:p:1333-1353
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02172.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Chen, Yanting & Liu, Qijun, 2018. "Public-sector wages and corruption: An empirical study," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 189-197.
    3. Susana Gago-Rodríguez & Gilberto Márquez-Illescas & Manuel Núñez-Nickel, 2020. "Denial of Corruption: Voluntary Disclosure of Bribery Information," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 609-626, March.
    4. Luca Anderlini & Leonardo Felli & Alessandro Riboni, 2014. "Why Stare Decisis?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 17(4), pages 726-738, October.
    5. Anderlini, Luca & Felli, Leonardo & Riboni, Alessandro, 2020. "Legal efficiency and consistency," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Günther G. Schulze & Bambang Suharnoko Sjahrir & Nikita Zakharov, 2016. "Corruption in Russia," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(1), pages 135-171.
    7. Gareth D. Myles & Hana Yousefi, 2020. "Corruption as an Occupational Choice: Endogenous Corruption and Tax Policy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(4), pages 1446-1474, April.
    8. Othmani, Abdelhafidh & Slimani, Slah & Bakari, Sayef, 2015. "Les Effets de la Concurrence sur le Commerce Extérieur de la Tunisie : Une Approche du Modèle de Gravité Statique durant la Période 1999-2012 [The Effects of Competition on Foreign Trade in Tunisia: An Approach to the Static Gravity Model in the P," MPRA Paper 80885, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Van-Ha Le & Jakob de Haan & Erik Dietzenbacher & Jakob de Haan, 2013. "Do Higher Government Wages Reduce Corruption? Evidence Based on a Novel Dataset," CESifo Working Paper Series 4254, CESifo.
    10. Jaimovich, Esteban & Rud, Juan Pablo, 2014. "Excessive public employment and rent-seeking traps," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 144-155.
    11. Zhang, Haiyan & Lu, Fangwen & Wang, Dehua, 2024. "Delayed tax rebates, cash flow, and corporate spending: A quasi-experiment from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    12. Othmani, Abdelhafidh & Slimani, Slah & Bakari, Sayef, 2015. "Les Effets de la Corruption sur le Commerce Extérieur de la Tunisie : Une Approche du Modèle de Gravité Statique durant la Période 1999-2012," MPRA Paper 80894, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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