Tina Das, professor of economics, and Cassandra DiRienzo, associate professor of economics and associate dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, recently had their research exploring the contagious nature of corruption published.
Their paper, “Spatial Decay of Corruption in Africa and the Middle East,” appears in the journal Economic Papers 31(4): 508-514.
Below is an abstract:
“This study contributes to a small, but growing stream of literature exploring the contagious nature of corruption by examining the rate at which the correlation between countries’ corruption measures decays as the geographical distance between country capital cities increases. Focusing on countries in Africa and the Middle East and using historical data from Transparency International to measure perceived levels of country corruption and the great circle distance (in miles) between country capitals, the results of this analysis indicate that corruption is contagious and can spread beyond its neighbor’s borders. The rate at which corrupt practices are adopted decays as the distance between the countries’ capitals increases and the first order conditions suggest that corrupt practices can spread and impact practices beyond 2700 miles. The results also suggest that reducing corruption within a nation’s borders can be viewed as a positive externality as reductions in corruption levels can spillover to other countries and help to lower corruption within a larger geographical region.”
Economic Papers provides a forum for the presentation of research and debate in applied economics and economic policy analysis. Contributions are intended to be written in plain English and to be accessible and of interest to a broad ranch of economists working in business, government and in academic communities.