Is Transparency the Key to Reducing Corruption in Resource-Rich Countries?

Ivar Kolstad and Arne Wiig

World Development, 2009, vol. 37, issue 3, 521-532

Abstract: Summary Transparency is increasingly viewed as central to curbing corruption and other dysfunctions of resource-rich developing countries. The international development community has pushed transparency in resource revenues through such initiatives as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Despite the popularity of the transparency concept, its role in reducing corruption and averting the resource curse is poorly understood. This paper reviews the main mechanisms through which transparency can reduce corruption. It argues that transparency is insufficient in itself, and needs to be complemented by other types of policies. Transparency reform should focus on the areas most important to alleviating the resource curse. In view of the resource curse literature, the emphasis of the EITI on revenues rather than on expenditures appears misplaced.

Keywords: natural; resources; corruption; transparency; EITI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (156)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-750X(08)00224-6
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: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:37:y:2009:i:3:p:521-532

Access Statistics for this article

World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes

More articles in World Development from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().