IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/inu/caeprp/2025004.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Streetlight Effect in Corruption Measurement: Theory and Application to Russian Traffic Police

Author

Listed:
  • Eeckhout, Tom

    (Department of Economics, Ghent University, Belgium)

  • Natkhov, Timur

    (Laboratory for Institutional Analysis, HSE University, Russia)

  • Polishchuk, Leonid

    (Department of Economics, Indiana University, USA)

  • Schoors, Koen

    (Department of Economics, Ghent University, Belgium)

Abstract

Different types and patterns of corruption, which complement each other, are co-monotone, i.e. rise and decline in sync. Therefore, a narrow-based corruption index could serve as a cardinal measure of broader corruption that leaves no direct evidence but complements the observable part. We present a theory that supports such approach to corruption measurement and test it empirically using the case of Russian traffic police. We show that a corruption index that reflects anomalies in the distribution of prestigious license plates exhibits strong correlation with adverse outcomes of the overall corruption in the ranks and activities of traffic police, in accordance with the “corruption kills” dictum.

Suggested Citation

  • Eeckhout, Tom & Natkhov, Timur & Polishchuk, Leonid & Schoors, Koen, 2025. "Streetlight Effect in Corruption Measurement: Theory and Application to Russian Traffic Police," CAEPR Working Papers 2025-004, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    • Handle: RePEc:inu:caeprp:2025004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://caepr.indiana.edu/RePEc/inu/caeprp/caepr2025-004.pdf
    Download Restriction: none
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • K13 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Tort Law and Product Liability; Forensic Economics

    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:inu:caeprp:2025004. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/caeprus.html .

    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.