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Political Polarization as a Constraint on Corruption: A Cross-national Comparison
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Political Polarization as a Constraint on Corruption: A Cross-national Comparison

David S. Brown, Michael Touchton and Andrew Whitford
World development, v 39(9), pp 1516-1529
01 Sep 2011

Abstract

Argentina corruption democracy development governance Latin America polarization
Efforts to explain corruption have increased dramatically in recent years. The interest stems from the increasing weight economists assign to corruption when explaining economic growth. A great deal of the research focuses on how political institutions influence perceptions of corruption. We move this debate in a new direction by addressing a previously ignored dimension: ideological polarization. We contend perceptions of corruption are determined not only by specific institutional features of the political system—such as elements of voting systems, ballot structures, or separation of powers—but by who sits at the controls. We employ panel data from a broad variety of countries to test our theoretical argument. Contrary to recent findings by both economists and political scientists, we show that ideological polarization predicts perceptions of corruption.

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#10 Reduced Inequalities
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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Development Studies
Economics
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