Bribes and Bureaucracy Size: The Strategy of Watering Down Corruption

Abstract

We present a simple agency model with a revenue-maximizing government and many public officials (agents) in charge of collecting payments from citizens. Agents are of two types, honest and potentially dishonest, with the latter having an inherent propensity to demand bribes from citizens. This propensity may eventually turn into actual (perceived) corruption depending on the strategy pursued by the government. In equilibrium, we derive a non-linear relationship between potential and perceived corruption and, specifically, three distinct policy regimes in which the opportunistic behaviour is curbed, eradicated or tolerated. Different regimes are characterized by different bureaucracy sizes, and we conjecture that low levels of perceived corruption may, in some circumstances, be due to a dilution effect of bribery cases on large numbers of public employees. Some simple descriptive evidence on European regions appears to confirm our theoretical insights.

Motives underlying the intentions of youth to get involved in bribery: evidence from Lithuania

“…It tends to have a negative public image (Weber, 2023), so avoiding bureaucracy as a "negative phenomenon" can be seen as perfectly acceptable (Besley et al, 2022). One of the most common ways to circumvent some of the bureaucratic procedures is to engage in various forms bribery (Caserta et al, 2022;Su and Ni, 2023). This leads us to formulate our third hypothesis:…”

Identification of Public Service Logic (PSL) and Public Service Motivation (PSM) elements in Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives

“…Public Service Motivation (PSM) has been identified in terms of the altruistic and prosocial propensities of public servants which are engrained in them by virtue of their institutional affiliations and overarching objectives (Caserta et al, 2022; Klatt & Fairholm, 2023; Perry et al, 2010). Thus, it has been attested that public officials are motivated by public service even if it entails personal sacrifices (Bozeman & Su, 2015; Perry & Vandenabeele, 2015) and the public well‐being of society.…”

“…OGD engagement by a range of stakeholders has been considered as a bulwark of the OGD ecosystem wherein the reuse of OGD has been considered as important for the value cocreation pursuits of the stakeholders which would eventually result in the refurbishment of the public services as also the socio‐economic developmental landscape Jetzek et al, 2014). In line with these assertions, it may be underlined that the themes of Public Service Motivation (PSM) (Caserta et al, 2022; Perry et al, 2010; Waterhouse et al, 2014) and Public Service Logic (PSL) (Alford, 2016; Ostrom, 1990) have assumed significance over a period of time given the impetus upon the empathy and altruism of the public service officials in the former case and the value cocreation dimensions in the latter case. Whilst the former is defined in terms of the broad concern for the progression and stakeholders' engagement with OGD, the latter is concerned with the efforts made by the public officials towards value derivation and innovation by the stakeholders concerned.…”

Public Service Motivation and Ethical Behavior amid Challenge Stressors

“…1 Mr. Ghimire is Faculty Member, Nepal College of Management, Kathmandu University, Nepal. He can be reached at rameshrghimire@gmail.com people with a purpose to benefit to society, is one potential lever (Caserta et al, 2022).…”