Corruption in space: A closer look at the world's subnations

Abstract

The level of corruption differs not only between countries, but also between subnations within countries. In this paper we analyze spatial interdependencies in corruption levels for a large sample of 1,232 subnations in 81 countries. Based on a spatial autoregressive model, which additionally corrects for spatial autocorrelation in the error term, we find that a subnation's corruption level is positively affected by neighboring subnations' corruption levels. This suggests that subnational corruption levels are strategic complements. Extending the core model and allowing for heterogeneous spatial interdependencies our results indicate that in particular high income subnations and subnations with a relative low corruption level tend to spill in space. This is due to their high degree of connectivity in terms of economic, sociocultural and political exchange with other subnations. Our findings underline the importance to consider not only a subnation's own characteristics but also their degree of connectivity with other subnations when implementing efficient anti-corruption policies on a local level.

Corruption and economic growth: New empirical evidence

“…Related studies by Becker et al (2009), Faber and Gerritse (2012), Jetter and Parmeter (2018), and Borsky and Kalkschmied (2019) have shown that corruption in an individual country or region is positively correlated with corruption in neighboring countries or regions.…”

“…This strategy is motivated by the regional concentration of corruption. Corruption in an individual country has been shown to be positively correlated with corruption in neighboring countries; there is spatial dependence between and within countries (e. g., Becker et al 2009 Borsky and Kalkschmied (2019).…”

“…We use jack-knifed regional averages of corruption for each country-year observation as instrumental variables for national corruption. Empirical evidence shows that corruption in an individual country or region is positively correlated with corruption in neighboring countries or regions (e. g., Becker et al 2009, Faber and Gerritse 2012, Jetter and Parmeter 2018, Borsky and Kalkschmied 2019. Spatial dependence is a vigorous instrumental variable for corruption.…”

The Effect of Anti-Corruption Campaign on the Exposure Aspects on Social Media Facebook and Instagram

“…The results of the study Borsky showed that "Our estimation results indicate that subnational corruption levels are, due to spatial interdependencies and spatial heterogeneity, significantly correlated in space [8]. Spatial interdependencies and feedback effects stemming from a marginal change in an independent variable are about the same size as direct effects.…”

Mens Rea and State Loses on Corruption Cases: An Analysis of Corruption Court Judgment of Semarang

“…Therefore, the public prosecutor understands the meaning of the actus and mens rea in eradicating corruption, so it is almost certain that no suspect will win in the pre-trial forum or the defendant is convicted by the court (Borsky and Kalkschmied, 2019). Because investigators have ensured that the perpetrators' actions are possessed of dolus malus, the perpetrators are to blame and cause consequences in the form of state financial losses.…”