Sector reforms and institutional corruption: Evidence from electricity industry in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractIn order to reduce the influence of corruption on electricity sector performance, most Sub-Saharan African countries have implemented electricity sector reforms. However, after nearly two and half decades of reforms, there is no evidence whether the reforms have mitigated corruption. Neither is there evidence of performance improvement of the reforms in terms of technical, economic or welfare impact. This paper aims to fill this gap. We use a dynamic panel estimator with a novel panel data of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2002 to 2013. We analyse the impact of corruption and two key aspects of electricity reformscreations of independent regulatory agencies and private sector participationon three key performance indicators: technical efficiency, access to electricity and income. We find that corruption can significantly reduce technical efficiency of the sector and constrain the efforts to increase access to electricity and national income. The adverse effects are reduced where independent regulatory agencies are established and privatisation is implemented. These findings suggest that well-designed reforms not only boost the performance of the sector directly, but also indirectly reduce the negative effects of macro level institutional deficiencies such as corruption on micro and macro performance indicators.

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

“…For corruption cases, the author believes strict liability is appropriate as a form of accountability, so that the element of mens rea becomes irrelevant in the examination procedure, especially if it is then used as a basis for not continuing the examination of corruption (Erum and Hussain, 2019). For detention, the basis for detention is to detain the suspect if there is a concern that the suspect will hide evidence, escape, repeat the crime as determined by the Criminal Procedure Code (Imam, Jamasb, and Llorca, 2019).…”

Assessing Private Investment in African Renewable Energy Infrastructure: A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach

“…Regulatory changes have been particularly salient in the promotion of external investment to the generation segment of energy markets. However, have generally lacked social legitimacy [8]. Although barriers to efficiency remain, the number of Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects and total investment have increased in countries pursuing reforms.…”

FDI, Corruption and Development of Public Service Sectors in ASEAN Countries

“…Recently, attention has shifted to another important, but less explored channel, which is public-sector services, particularly in developing countries (Imam et al, 2019;Wren-Lewis, 2015;Estache et al, 2009;Dal Bó & Rossi, 2006;Bergara et al, 1998). The preponderance of evidence from this strand of literature suggests that corruption can inhibit the performance of public-goods sectors.…”

“…The preponderance of evidence from this strand of literature suggests that corruption can inhibit the performance of public-goods sectors. For example, in a recent study, Imam et al (2019) investigate the influence of corruption on electricity sector performance in Sub-Saharan African countries. They find that corruption can significantly reduce technical efficiency of the sector and constrain the efforts to increase access to electricity and national income; while examining the corruption-electricity sector performance linkage in different settings, they also capture similar outcomes as Imam et al (2019).…”

“…For example, in a recent study, Imam et al (2019) investigate the influence of corruption on electricity sector performance in Sub-Saharan African countries. They find that corruption can significantly reduce technical efficiency of the sector and constrain the efforts to increase access to electricity and national income; while examining the corruption-electricity sector performance linkage in different settings, they also capture similar outcomes as Imam et al (2019). In another strand of literature, Yan and Oum (2014) argue that the cost of providing public goods is affected by corruption of local government since bureaucrats have no strong incentives to pursue mandated tasks under a corrupt environment.…”