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Can the theories of New Institutional Economics explain which factors influence the overall level of corruption in a country?

Kunischewski, J.M. (2006) Can the theories of New Institutional Economics explain which factors influence the overall level of corruption in a country?

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Abstract:The fight against corruption is frequently mentioned as an important element of good governance. A number of anti-corruption treaties and agreements have been promoted by various organisations like the UN, OECD, and OAS. Recently, the president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, designated corruption as one of the biggest threats to the development of many countries. (Wernicke 2006) However, the yearly-published Global Corruption Report reveals that the philosopher's stone against corruption has not yet been found. The watchdog NGO Transparency International gives interesting figures. According to their surveys, 10 - 30 % of all Czech, Lithuanian and Greek households have paid bribes to public official in 2005. In Lithuania, these bribes made up a sum of 195 US-Dollars for each household. (Transparency International 2005) Furthermore, many corruption scandals made it on the news tabloids across Europe - often staring prominent personalities like Silvio Berlusconi and Helmut Kohl. This shows that corruption is not only a problem of the so-called "third world" but a global one. In order to tackle this problem one has to know its causes and search for the factors that determine the prevalent level of corruption in a country. For this purpose, nearly every scientific discipline has sent out search parties that found numerous possible explanations ranging from cultural determinants to feminist theories, which see the cause of corruption in the low number of female public officials. (Alemann 2005: 36) However, the most comprehensive and explicit theories have been developed by the branches of New Institutional Economics, specifically the Principal-Agent Theory and the Rent-Seeking Theory1. Therefore, I will concentrate on these theories.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration BSc (56834)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/57837
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