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Does Rapid Liberalization Increase Corruption?

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  • Samia Tavares

    (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Corruption scandals seem to abound in countries that have recently undergone reform. Despite the proliferation of stories in the news media, no one has examined whether reform—be it democratization or economic liberalization or both—actually causes an increase in corruption. Theory provides no guidance as to the direction of causality—on the one hand, reforms make politicians accountable to voters, as well as introduce more competition, which should decrease corruption. On the other hand, the need for politicians to now raise campaign funds, as well as the increased availability of rents that results from economic liberalization provides for an incentive for corruption. This paper uses the numerous cases of democratizations and economic liberalizations that occurred in the 80s and 90s to examine this issue. The paper finds that undertaking both reforms in rapid succession actually leads to a decrease in corruption, while countries that democratized more than 5 years after liberalizing experienced an increase in corruption.

Suggested Citation

  • Samia Tavares, 2005. "Does Rapid Liberalization Increase Corruption?," Public Economics 0507003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 31 Aug 2005.
  • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwppe:0507003
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    Cited by:

    1. Vatcharin Sirimaneetham, 2006. "What drives liberal policies in developing countries?," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 06/587, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    2. Everett, Jeff & Neu, Dean & Rahaman, Abu Shiraz, 2007. "Accounting and the global fight against corruption," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 513-542, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    corruption; liberalization; government; democracy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • 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
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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