Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2011
Abstract
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. Much 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.
Publication Information
Brown, David S.; Touchton, Michael; and Whitford, Andrew. (2011). "Political Polarization as a Constraint on Corruption: A Cross-National Comparison". World Development, 39(9), 1516-1529. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.02.006
Comments
NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work accepted for publication by Elsevier. Changes resulting from the publishing process, including peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms, may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version has been published in World Development, Volume 39, Issue 9, 2011. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.02.006