1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910788339703321

Autore

Pani Marco

Titolo

Hold Your Nose and Vote : : Why Do Some Democracies Tolerate Corruption? / / Marco Pani

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Washington, D.C. : , : International Monetary Fund, , 2009

ISBN

1-4623-3559-4

1-4527-5814-X

9786612843037

1-4518-7230-5

1-282-84303-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (34 p.)

Collana

IMF Working Papers

Soggetti

Political corruption

Democracy

Budgeting

Public Finance

Taxation

Political Economy

Criminology

Bureaucracy

Administrative Processes in Public Organizations

Corruption

National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General

Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General

National Budget

Budget Systems

Corporate crime

white-collar crime

Public finance & taxation

Political economy

Budgeting & financial management

Expenditure

Tax incentives

Budget planning and preparation

Expenditures, Public

Economics

Budget

Italy



Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; I. Introduction; II. Relations with Previous Studies; III. A Model of Public Expenditure with Corruption; A. How ministers respond to corruption: honest and corrupt citizens; B. The political response of non-elected citizens; C. The choice between honest and corrupt candidates; IV. Voting on Law Enforcement; A. Law enforcement and policy choice; B. Deciding on law enforcement; V. Conclusions; Appendix: Proofs of Propositions; References

Sommario/riassunto

This paper analyses why corruption can persist for long periods in a democracy and inquires whether this can result from a well-informed rational choice of the citizens. By applying a citizen-candidate model of representative democracy, the paper analyzes how corruption distortsthe allocation of resources between public and private expenditure, altering the policy preferences of elected and nonelected citizens in opposite directions. The result is a reduction in real public expenditure and, if the median voter's demand for public goods is sufficiently elastic, a tax reduction. In this case, some citizens can indirectly benefit from corruption. The paper shows that, under this condition, if the citizens anticipate a shift in policy preferences in favor of higher public expenditure, they may support institutional arrangements that favor corruption (such as a weak enforcement of the law) in order to alter future policy decisions in their favor. This result complements the findings of other studies that have attributed the persistence of corruption in a democracyto some failure on the part of the voters or the electoral system. It also bears implications for developing effective anticorruption strategies and for redefining the role that can be played by the international community.