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Fighting Corruption in Education: What Works and Who Benefits?

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  • Borcan, Oana

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Lindahl, Mikael

    (University of Uppsala)

  • Mitrut, Andreea

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

We investigate the efficiency and distributional consequences of a corruptionfighting initiative in Romania targeting the endemic fraud in a high-stakes high school exit exam, which introduced CCTV monitoring of the exam and credible punishment threats. We find that punishment coupled with monitoring was effective in reducing corruption. Estimating the heterogeneous impact for students of different ability, poverty status, and gender, we show that fighting corruption led to efficiency gains (ability predicts exam outcomes better) but also to a worrisome score gap increase between poor and non-poor students. Consequently,the poor students have reduced chances to enter an elite university.

Suggested Citation

  • Borcan, Oana & Lindahl, Mikael & Mitrut, Andreea, 2015. "Fighting Corruption in Education: What Works and Who Benefits?," Working Papers in Economics 612, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0612
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    File URL: https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/38272
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Puhani, Patrick A. & Yang, Philip, 2020. "Does increased teacher accountability decrease leniency in grading?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 333-341.
    3. Oana Borcan & Mikael Lindahl & Andreea Mitrut, 2017. "Fighting Corruption in Education: What Works and Who Benefits?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 180-209, February.
    4. Andrei Munteanu, 2024. "School Choice, Student Sorting and Academic Performance," Cahiers de recherche / Working Papers 2401, Chaire de recherche sur les enjeux économiques intergénérationnels / Research Chair in Intergenerational Economics.
    5. Marina Cavalieri & Massimo Finocchiaro Castro & Calogero Guccio, 2020. "Does the Fish Rot from the Head? Organised Crime and Educational Outcomes in Southern Italy," Working papers 97, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    6. Verwimp, Philip, 2023. "Ethno-regional favoritism and the political economy of school test scores," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    7. Osei, Davina & Konte, Maty & Avenyo, Elvis Korku, 2024. "Escaping Corruption in the Demand for Public Services in Africa — The Dual Nature of Civic Networks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    8. Machin, Stephen & McNally, Sandra & Ruiz-Valenzuela, Jenifer, 2020. "Entry through the narrow door: The costs of just failing high stakes exams," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    9. Abdulfattah Omar & Waheed Altohami & Muhammad Afzaal, 2022. "Assessment of the Governance Quality of the Departments of English in Saudi Universities: Implications for Sustainable Development," World Journal of English Language, Sciedu Press, vol. 12(8), pages 443-443, December.
    10. Harris, Donna & Borcan, Oana & Serra, Danila & Telli, Henry & Schettini, Bruno & Dercon, Stefan, 2024. "Proud to Belong: The Impact of Ethics Training on Police Officers in Ghana," IZA Discussion Papers 17006, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Abhijeet Singh, 2024. "Improving Administrative Data at Scale: Experimental Evidence on Digital Testing in Indian Schools," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(661), pages 2207-2223.
    12. M. Shahe Emran & Asadul Islam & Forhad Shilpi, 2020. "Distributional Effects of Corruption When Enforcement is Biased: Theory and Evidence from Bribery in Schools in Bangladesh," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 87(348), pages 985-1015, October.
    13. Soraperra, Ivan & Köbis, Nils & Shalvi, Shaul & Vogt, Sonja & Efferson, Charles & Offerman, Theo, 2023. "A market for integrity. The use of competition to reduce bribery in education," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    14. Fumagalli, Laura & Rabe, Birgitta & Burn, Hettie, 2023. "Teacher grade predictions for ethnic minority groups: evidence from England," ISER Working Paper Series 2023-03, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    15. Andris Zimelis, 2020. "Corruption research: A need for an integrated approach," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 288-306, September.
    16. Donna Harris & Oana Borcan & Danila Serra & Henry Telli & Bruno Schettini & Stefan Dercon, 2022. "Proud to belong: The impact of ethics training on police officers," CSAE Working Paper Series 2022-05, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    17. Cabrales, Antonio & Kendall, Ryan & Sánchez, Anxo, 2019. "Effective policies and social norms in the presence of driverless cars: Theory and experiment," CEPR Discussion Papers 13784, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Anna Dreber & Magnus Johannesson & Yifan Yang, 2024. "Selective reporting of placebo tests in top economics journals," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(3), pages 921-932, July.
    19. Lisa Sofie Höckel & Manuel Santos Silva & Tobias Stöhr, 2018. "Can Parental Migration Reduce Petty Corruption in Education?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 109-126.
    20. Robert Ainsworth & Rajeev Dehejia & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Miguel Urquiola, 2023. "Why Do Households Leave School Value Added on the Table? The Roles of Information and Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(4), pages 1049-1082, April.
    21. Robert Ainsworth & Rajeev Dehejia & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Miguel Urquiola, 2020. "Information, Preferences, and Household Demand for School Value Added," NBER Working Papers 28267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Oana Borcan & James Merewood, 2022. "Positive Disruption? Meritocratic Principal Selection and Student Achievement," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2022-11, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    23. Conover, Emily & Kraynak, Daniel & Singh, Prakarsh, 2023. "The effect of traffic cameras on police effort: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    24. Cavalieri, Marina & Finocchiaro Castro, Massimo & Guccio, Calogero, 2023. "Organised crime and educational outcomes in Southern Italy: An empirical investigation," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    25. Dávid-Barrett, Elizabeth & Fazekas, Mihály, 2020. "Anti-corruption in aid-funded procurement: Is corruption reduced or merely displaced?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    corruption; high-stakes exam; bribes; monitoring and punishment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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