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Can bribery buy health? Evidence from post-communist countries

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  • Astghik Mavisakalyan

    (Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre, Curtin University)

  • Vladimir Otrachshenko

    (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS))

  • Olga Popova

    (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS))

Abstract

Corruption is pervasive, but we know little about its effects on individual lives. This paper examines whether living in a corrupt society has deleterious effects on health. Using individual-level data from 28 post-communist countries, we demonstrate that bribing for public services worsens self-assessed health. Unlike other studies, we account for endogeneity of bribery and show that bribing for any type of public service, not just for health services, has an adverse impact. We also find that bribery lowers the quality of services received. Moreover, there are potentially high indirect costs of bribery since, as we show, it comes at the expense of cutting food consumption. These findings suggest that corruption is a potentially important source behind the poor health outcomes in many developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Astghik Mavisakalyan & Vladimir Otrachshenko & Olga Popova, 2019. "Can bribery buy health? Evidence from post-communist countries," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series WP1905, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.
  • Handle: RePEc:ozl:bcecwp:wp1905
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    6. Sandra Pellet & Marine de Talancé, 2023. "Is There a Gender Gap in Health among Migrants in Russia?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(12), pages 1927-1948, December.
    7. Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Nikolova, Milena & Popova, Olga, 2021. "Double-edged sword: Persistent effects of Communism on life satisfaction," GLO Discussion Paper Series 927, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Li, Xun & Pan, Wensi & Xu, Gang, 2024. "A “leaner” government? The effect of China's anti-corruption campaign on the body weight and health of public sector employees," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 141-169.
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    10. Luca Andriani & Gaygysyz Ashyrov, 2022. "Corruption and life satisfaction: Evidence from a transition survey," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 511-535, November.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bribery; Corruption; Health; Post-Communist Countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government

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