Exploiting the Poor: Bureaucratic Corruption and Poverty in Africa

Mogens K. Justesen and Christian Bjørnskov

World Development, 2014, vol. 58, issue C, 106-115

Abstract: While extant research has focused on the causes and consequences of corruption at the macro-level, less effort has been devoted to understanding the micro-foundation of corruption. We argue that poor people are more likely to be victims of corrupt behavior by street-level bureaucrats as the poor often rely heavily on services provided by governments. We test this proposition using micro-level survey data from the Afrobarometer. Multilevel regressions across 18 countries show that poor people are much more prone to experience having to pay bribes to government officials.

Keywords: bribery; corruption; poverty; Africa; political economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (67)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:58:y:2014:i:c:p:106-115

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.01.002

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