Routine Corruption in Russia During the Reigns of Catherine II and Alexander I

Corruption in Russia - Historic Legacy and Systemic Nature

“…The other source of data on corruption in Imperial Russia is found in the record books from large agricultural provincial estates of nobility. Using this source Korchmina and Fedyukin (2016) find that almost every interaction with a representative of the state was accompanied with some sort of "gift", creating very significant extra incomes for public officials. Their estimates suggest that extralegal payments to officials amounted up to 70 percent of their legal income and that high-ranking officials received the largest shares of almost twice of their salary.…”

“…Their estimates suggest that extralegal payments to officials amounted up to 70 percent of their legal income and that high-ranking officials received the largest shares of almost twice of their salary. This is only a lower bound of corrupt income since the data from Korchmina and Fedyukin (2016) cover only big agricultural estates and do not include other sources of corruption, such as trade.…”