Corruption perceptions vs. corruption reality

Benjamin A. Olken

Journal of Public Economics, 2009, vol. 93, issue 7-8, pages 950-964

Abstract: This paper examines the accuracy of corruption perceptions by comparing Indonesian villagers' reported perceptions about corruption in a road-building project in their village with a more objective measure of [`]missing expenditures' in the project. I find that villagers' reported perceptions do contain real information, and that villagers are sophisticated enough to distinguish between corruption in a particular road project and general corruption in the village. The magnitude of the reported information, however, is small, in part because officials hide corruption where it is hardest for villagers to detect. I also find that there are biases in reported perceptions. The findings illustrate the limitations of relying solely on corruption perceptions, whether in designing anti-corruption policies or in conducting empirical research on corruption.

Keywords: Corruption; Perceptions; Beliefs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V76 ... c07360b39d209cd57cc1
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:93:y:2009:i:7-8:p:950-964

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Public Economics is edited by R. Boadway and J. Poterba

More articles in Journal of Public Economics from Elsevier
Series data maintained by Heidi Boesdal ().