Measuring Corruption in Infrastructure: Evidence from Transition and Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper examines what we can say about the extent and impact of corruption in infrastructure using existing evidence. There is evidence that most perceptions measures appear to be very weak proxies for the actual extent of corruption in the infrastructure sector, largely (but inaccurately) measuring petty rather than grand corruption. Survey evidence is more reliable, but limited as a tool for differentiating countries in terms of access to infrastructure finance or appropriate policy models. The paper suggests that a focus on bribe payments as the indicator of the costs of corruption in infrastructure may be misplaced.

Gender and Corruption in Business

“…The first major obstacle is the challenge of measuring corruption. The majority of studies that we have examined tend to use perception-based measures, which have been criticised as suffering potentially from perception biases (Svensson, 2003;Reinikka & Svensson, 2006;Fan, Lin & Treisman, 2009) and a tendency to lag reality (Knack, 2007;Kenny, 2009). …”

Does Governance Matter In Infrastructure: Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Estimates regarding the cost of corruption in infrastructure suggest that 5-20% of construction costs are being lost to bribe payments, and as much as 20-30% of electricity is being stolen by consumers in collusion with staff (Gulati and Rao, 2006). Assuming the 5% costs, the financial burden would translate to about US$18 billion a year in developing countries (Kenny, 2009). To reduce corruption and strengthen the governance environment, Kolstad and Wiig (2009) have suggested transparency as the key factor.…”

Corruption and Infrastructure at the Country and Regional Level

“…Bose, Capasso and Murshid (2008) present a model in which corruption is only detrimental to infrastructural quality once it passes a threshold and rgillanders@gmail.com Phone: 00353 861605245 supports this argument with empirical evidence. Using an early version of the ES data in conjunction with other data, Kenny (2009) finds a correlation between measures of corruption and some measures of infrastructural quality, though as Kenny himself emphasises, the sample size available to him is very small. The first contribution of this paper is to revisit this question with a new dataset that arguably contains more satisfactory measures of both variables.…”