Are Larger Countries Really More Corrupt?

Are Larger Countries Really More Corrupt?

Several authors claim to provide evidence that government corruption is less severe in small than in large countries. The authors demonstrate that this relationship is an artifact of sample selection. Most corruption indicators provide ratings only for the countries in which multi-national investors have the greatest interest. These tend to include almost all large nations but, among small nations, only those that are well governed. The authors find that the relationship between corruption and country size disappears when one uses either a new corruption indicator with substantially increased country coverage or an alternative corruption indicator that covers all World Bank borrowers without regard to country size. They also show that the relationship between corruption and trade intensity--a variable strongly related to population--disappears when samples less subject to selection bias are used.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Knack, Stephen, Azfar, Omar
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2000-11
Subjects:ACCOUNTABILITY, AGGREGATING GOVERNANCE INDICATORS, ANTI-CORRUPTION, AVERAGE RATINGS, BRIBES, CITIZEN, CITIZENS, CIVIL SERVANTS, COLONIES, COMMUNIST, COMPETITION POLICY, CONSTITUENCIES, CONTROLLING CORRUPTION, CORRUPT COUNTRIES, CORRUPTION, CORRUPTION DATA, CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT, CORRUPTION INDICATOR, CORRUPTION LEVELS, CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS, CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX, CORRUPTION SURVEYS, COUNTRIES MUST, COUNTRY COVERAGE, CPI, DATA AVAILABILITY, DECENTRALIZATION, DEMOCRACY, DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, FEDERAL STATES, FEDERALISM, FIGHTING CORRUPTION, FISCAL, FISCAL RESOURCES, FOREIGN TRADE, GOOD GOVERNANCE, GOVERNANCE DATA, GOVERNANCE INDICATORS, GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, GOVERNMENT SPENDING, GRAFT, GROWTH, GROWTH RATES, HUMAN RIGHTS, INCOME, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INCOME GROWTH, INCOME LEVELS, INSTITUTIONAL MEASURES, LAW ENFORCEMENT, LAWS, MEASUREMENT ERROR, MEDIA, MONETARY ECONOMICS, NATIONS, PARLIAMENT, PER CAPITA INCOME, PER CAPITA INCOMES, PERCEPTIONS INDEX, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICAL FREEDOMS, POLITICAL RISK, PUBLIC OFFICIALS, PUBLIC SECTOR, SAMPLE SIZE, SELECTION BIAS, STATE SIZE, TRANSPARENCY, VESTED INTERESTS,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/11/717454/larger-countries-really-more-corrupt
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/19757
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Summary:Several authors claim to provide evidence that government corruption is less severe in small than in large countries. The authors demonstrate that this relationship is an artifact of sample selection. Most corruption indicators provide ratings only for the countries in which multi-national investors have the greatest interest. These tend to include almost all large nations but, among small nations, only those that are well governed. The authors find that the relationship between corruption and country size disappears when one uses either a new corruption indicator with substantially increased country coverage or an alternative corruption indicator that covers all World Bank borrowers without regard to country size. They also show that the relationship between corruption and trade intensity--a variable strongly related to population--disappears when samples less subject to selection bias are used.

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