Three Corruption Scandals, Three Field Experiments

Abstract

Corruption vulnerabilities turn to actual threats when officials calculate that the benefits of abusing their power are greater than the penalties associated with getting caught. By a similar logic, the formula for corruption control requires increasing the probability of detecting corruption (that is, of activating the eye) through enhanced monitoring and then credibly threatening to apply the appropriate penalty in response to wrongdoing (cracking the whip). As discussed in this introductory chapter, the present book contributes evidence-based recommendations on how societies can go about fighting bureaucratic corruption. The chapter describes the methodological rigor that characterizes the field experimental method, prior to summarizing three original and successive field experiments on corruption control. These experiments represent the book’s core contribution.