Leading theories of institutional and economic development emphasize the role of informal norms and the strength of civil society. Though informal norms and civil society are usually thought to change incrementally, exposure to violent conflict may shock these institutions. Well identified household level studies show that exposure to violent conflict may increase political participation, participation in social groups, involvement in community leadership, and contributions to public goods (Bauer et al. 2016). Evidence suggests that civil war may influence formal institutional quality at the country level, however, evidence that violence can change civil society or informal norms at the county level is sparse. In this study I apply the synthetic control method to model the impact of violent conflict on the strength of civil society at the country level. I focus on five countries in which existing micro-level evidence suggests that exposure to violence changes to behavior or informal norms: Sierra Leone, Burundi, Uganda, Nepal and Liberia. Results of the synthetic control analysis suggests that civil war is associated with stronger civil society in at least some contexts.
{"title":"Violent Conflict and the Strength of Civil Society","authors":"Colin O’Reilly","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3925357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3925357","url":null,"abstract":"Leading theories of institutional and economic development emphasize the role of informal norms and the strength of civil society. Though informal norms and civil society are usually thought to change incrementally, exposure to violent conflict may shock these institutions. Well identified household level studies show that exposure to violent conflict may increase political participation, participation in social groups, involvement in community leadership, and contributions to public goods (Bauer et al. 2016). Evidence suggests that civil war may influence formal institutional quality at the country level, however, evidence that violence can change civil society or informal norms at the county level is sparse. In this study I apply the synthetic control method to model the impact of violent conflict on the strength of civil society at the country level. I focus on five countries in which existing micro-level evidence suggests that exposure to violence changes to behavior or informal norms: Sierra Leone, Burundi, Uganda, Nepal and Liberia. Results of the synthetic control analysis suggests that civil war is associated with stronger civil society in at least some contexts.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123713515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We model the concept of embedded autonomy, introduced by Peter Evens, as an interaction between bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, where bureaucrats must approve projects proposed by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are better informed about their own projects than are bureaucrats, but bureaucrats can receive signals about project quality from entrepreneurs. If bureaucrats and entrepreneurs are more closely connected, say through social ties, they receive more informative signals. However, greater closeness will simultaneously relax the standards for project approval. Hence, there is a tradeoff between these two effects of social closeness, which helps capture the concept of embedded autonomy.
{"title":"A Model of Embedded Autonomy and Asymmetric Information","authors":"Weicheng Lyu, Nirvikar Singh","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3906192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3906192","url":null,"abstract":"We model the concept of embedded autonomy, introduced by Peter Evens, as an interaction between bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, where bureaucrats must approve projects proposed by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are better informed about their own projects than are bureaucrats, but bureaucrats can receive signals about project quality from entrepreneurs. If bureaucrats and entrepreneurs are more closely connected, say through social ties, they receive more informative signals. However, greater closeness will simultaneously relax the standards for project approval. Hence, there is a tradeoff between these two effects of social closeness, which helps capture the concept of embedded autonomy.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128786908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We develop a model of endogenous network formation as well as strategic interactions that take place on the resulting graph, and use it to measure social complementarities in the legislative process. Our model allows for partisan bias and homophily in the formation of relationships, which then impact legislative output. We use it to show how increased electoral competition can induce increased social behavior and the nonlinear effects of political polarization on legislative activity. We identify and structurally estimate our model using data on social and legislative efforts of members of each of the 105th-110th U.S. Congresses (1997-2009). We find large network effects in the form of complementarities between the efforts of politicians, both within and across parties. Although partisanship and preference differences between parties are significant drivers of socializing, our empirical evidence paints a less polarized picture of the informal connections of legislators than typically emerges from legislative votes alone.
{"title":"Endogenous Networks and Legislative Activity","authors":"N. Canen, M. Jackson, Francesco Trebbi","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2823338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2823338","url":null,"abstract":"We develop a model of endogenous network formation as well as strategic interactions that take place on the resulting graph, and use it to measure social complementarities in the legislative process. Our model allows for partisan bias and homophily in the formation of relationships, which then impact legislative output. We use it to show how increased electoral competition can induce increased social behavior and the nonlinear effects of political polarization on legislative activity. We identify and structurally estimate our model using data on social and legislative efforts of members of each of the 105th-110th U.S. Congresses (1997-2009). We find large network effects in the form of complementarities between the efforts of politicians, both within and across parties. Although partisanship and preference differences between parties are significant drivers of socializing, our empirical evidence paints a less polarized picture of the informal connections of legislators than typically emerges from legislative votes alone.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123062397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
An independent judiciary has often been hailed as one of the most important aspects of the rule of law. Securing judicial independence (JI) via explicit constitutional rules seems straightforward and there is evidence that de jure and de facto JI are linked, at least in the long term. However, the realized degree of judicial independence often diverges significantly from the constitutionally guaranteed one. Based on theoretical conjectures and a worldwide panel dataset from 1950 to 2003, we find changes toward more parliamentary systems to be associated with a larger de jure-de facto gap, whereas the existence of procedures for amending the constitution are associated with a smaller gap. Relying on corruption levels as a proxy for the functionality of institutions, we find that higher corruption levels are associated with a wider gap between de jure and de facto JI.
{"title":"Judicial Independence: Why Does De Facto Diverge from De Jure?","authors":"B. Hayo, Stefan Voigt","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3897343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3897343","url":null,"abstract":"An independent judiciary has often been hailed as one of the most important aspects of the rule of law. Securing judicial independence (JI) via explicit constitutional rules seems straightforward and there is evidence that de jure and de facto JI are linked, at least in the long term. However, the realized degree of judicial independence often diverges significantly from the constitutionally guaranteed one. Based on theoretical conjectures and a worldwide panel dataset from 1950 to 2003, we find changes toward more parliamentary systems to be associated with a larger de jure-de facto gap, whereas the existence of procedures for amending the constitution are associated with a smaller gap. Relying on corruption levels as a proxy for the functionality of institutions, we find that higher corruption levels are associated with a wider gap between de jure and de facto JI.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126793314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A large body of literature concludes a negative association between ethnic diversity and pro-social behavior. Inspired by the works suggesting that the costly punishment would sustain the contribution level in public goods experiment, we compare the economic behavior of Mongolian- and Han-Chinese and investigate how ethnic diversity would affect contribution, punishment, and the marginal effect of punishment on contribution. We find that the association between ethnic diversity and pro-social behavior is not a simple negative relationship but rather depends on both cultural traits and ethnic fusion when we take punishment opportunity into consideration. Ethnic diversity may help promote contribution, alleviate the punishment level, and increase the efficiency of introducing a punishment mechanism in some circumstances.
{"title":"Does Ethnic Diversity Always Undermine Pro-Social Behavior? Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment","authors":"T. Bao, B. Liang, Jiaoying Pei","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3909255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3909255","url":null,"abstract":"A large body of literature concludes a negative association between ethnic diversity and pro-social behavior. Inspired by the works suggesting that the costly punishment would sustain the contribution level in public goods experiment, we compare the economic behavior of Mongolian- and Han-Chinese and investigate how ethnic diversity would affect contribution, punishment, and the marginal effect of punishment on contribution. We find that the association between ethnic diversity and pro-social behavior is not a simple negative relationship but rather depends on both cultural traits and ethnic fusion when we take punishment opportunity into consideration. Ethnic diversity may help promote contribution, alleviate the punishment level, and increase the efficiency of introducing a punishment mechanism in some circumstances.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116526887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
International development institutions frequently prescribe improving public financial management (PFM) as part of the response to lowering corruption levels in low- and middle-income countries. But to date, there has been little cross-country analysis on whether better PFM is associated with lower levels of corruption. This paper investigates the relationship between PFM, crime, and forensic sciences' role in curbing corruption levels during the budgeting process. The paper explores the public finance management (PFM) system in African countries, the PFM system and budget credibility, the PFM system, and fiscal outcomes. Further, the paper analyses how the PFM system can provide opportunities for corruption and how to strengthen the PFM as an anti-corruption strategy. In this regard, the paper brings forensic sciences and transparency in budget preparation, execution, and reporting. In this paper, the author presents areas of corruption during the budgeting process. It involves several stages, including Long-term planning at the political level, the annual budget formulation in the executive branch, debate and passage of the budget in parliament, implementation by various ministries and government agencies, and oversight and control by several institutions. This paper will explain a case study on corruption during the budgeting process or budget padding. On a positive note, the paper shows that if there is the political will to curb corruption in the budget process, three factors stand out as essential: transparency, objective criteria for allocating burdens and favouring legitimate decision-making processes. Finally, forensic sciences occupy the scene and its importance exis
{"title":"Forensic Finance and Budgeting Process Within the Public Financial Management (PFM) Framework in the African Context","authors":"Professor Kelly Kingsly","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3876370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3876370","url":null,"abstract":"International development institutions frequently prescribe improving public financial management (PFM) as part of the response to lowering corruption levels in low- and middle-income countries. But to date, there has been little cross-country analysis on whether better PFM is associated with lower levels of corruption. This paper investigates the relationship between PFM, crime, and forensic sciences' role in curbing corruption levels during the budgeting process. The paper explores the public finance management (PFM) system in African countries, the PFM system and budget credibility, the PFM system, and fiscal outcomes. Further, the paper analyses how the PFM system can provide opportunities for corruption and how to strengthen the PFM as an anti-corruption strategy. In this regard, the paper brings forensic sciences and transparency in budget preparation, execution, and reporting. In this paper, the author presents areas of corruption during the budgeting process. It involves several stages, including Long-term planning at the political level, the annual budget formulation in the executive branch, debate and passage of the budget in parliament, implementation by various ministries and government agencies, and oversight and control by several institutions. This paper will explain a case study on corruption during the budgeting process or budget padding. On a positive note, the paper shows that if there is the political will to curb corruption in the budget process, three factors stand out as essential: transparency, objective criteria for allocating burdens and favouring legitimate decision-making processes. Finally, forensic sciences occupy the scene and its importance exis","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128201871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the factors that shape the performance trajectories of three relatively effective public organisations in Ghana, namely, the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Revenue Authority. Drawing on an original investigation of organisational performance under the various political settlements that Ghana has experienced in the past few decades, it argues that although ‘pockets of effectiveness’ can emerge under different political settlement types and dynamics, such agencies are more likely to endure in concentrated political settlements than in contexts characterised by dispersed configurations of power. The main mechanism that links Ghana’s shifting political settlement and organisational performance is the quality of organisational leadership and its relationship to the political leadership of the day. Much depends on whether organisational leaders are (a) sufficiently politically loyal to be awarded the protection required to deliver on their mandate and (b) possess the political management skills required to navigate difficult political conditions. High levels of support (both technical and financial) from international development organisations and their privileged status as key nodes of economic governance have undoubtedly helped these organisations attain high levels of performance vis-à-vis the wider public bureaucracy. Nevertheless, the fact that the performance of these agencies has waxed and waned over time, despite international support and mandates being largely constant, suggests that the key to understanding their performance lies with political economy factors, with their effectiveness regularly undermined by the increasingly dispersed nature of power within Ghana’s political settlement and the resultant vulnerability of ruling elites.
{"title":"Political Settlement Dynamics and the Emergence and Decline of Bureaucratic Pockets of Effectiveness in Ghana","authors":"A. Abdulai","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3894493","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3894493","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the factors that shape the performance trajectories of three relatively effective public organisations in Ghana, namely, the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Revenue Authority. Drawing on an original investigation of organisational performance under the various political settlements that Ghana has experienced in the past few decades, it argues that although ‘pockets of effectiveness’ can emerge under different political settlement types and dynamics, such agencies are more likely to endure in concentrated political settlements than in contexts characterised by dispersed configurations of power. The main mechanism that links Ghana’s shifting political settlement and organisational performance is the quality of organisational leadership and its relationship to the political leadership of the day. Much depends on whether organisational leaders are (a) sufficiently politically loyal to be awarded the protection required to deliver on their mandate and (b) possess the political management skills required to navigate difficult political conditions. High levels of support (both technical and financial) from international development organisations and their privileged status as key nodes of economic governance have undoubtedly helped these organisations attain high levels of performance vis-à-vis the wider public bureaucracy. Nevertheless, the fact that the performance of these agencies has waxed and waned over time, despite international support and mandates being largely constant, suggests that the key to understanding their performance lies with political economy factors, with their effectiveness regularly undermined by the increasingly dispersed nature of power within Ghana’s political settlement and the resultant vulnerability of ruling elites.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125394956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Corruption has continued to pose a formidable obstacle to the development and sustenance of the democracy project in Nigeria. For about twenty years now, the democratic journey has remained tortuous because of the reckless pursuits of power by the political class. The cancer of corruption devastatingly destroys the fabric of national existence in Nigeria. The paper examines the prevalence of corruption and its impacts in the process of democratic governance in Nigeria. It argues that corruption has affected democratic governance with serious consequences for the development of the nation. Such consequences include the diversion of resources; poor budget implementation, looting the public treasury and rigging elections, among others. The capture theory of politics is adopted to explain the nature and character of politicians in Nigeria, especially how they use political power or office to corruptly capture the state for their own pecuniary and particularistic interest, which runs contrary to national interest. The paper thus recommends the need to demonetize politics by making appointments into the parliament a part-time job; strengthening institutions and agencies of anti-corruption and democracy and intensifying awareness campaigns by especially Civil Society Organizations, with emphasis on oversight and monitoring the activities of the executive and legislative institutions in the country.
{"title":"Corruption and Democratic Governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: Myths and Reality","authors":"Abdulyakeen Abdulrasheed","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3881675","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3881675","url":null,"abstract":"Corruption has continued to pose a formidable obstacle to the development and sustenance of the democracy project in Nigeria. For about twenty years now, the democratic journey has remained tortuous because of the reckless pursuits of power by the political class. The cancer of corruption devastatingly destroys the fabric of national existence in Nigeria. The paper examines the prevalence of corruption and its impacts in the process of democratic governance in Nigeria. It argues that corruption has affected democratic governance with serious consequences for the development of the nation. Such consequences include the diversion of resources; poor budget implementation, looting the public treasury and rigging elections, among others. The capture theory of politics is adopted to explain the nature and character of politicians in Nigeria, especially how they use political power or office to corruptly capture the state for their own pecuniary and particularistic interest, which runs contrary to national interest. The paper thus recommends the need to demonetize politics by making appointments into the parliament a part-time job; strengthening institutions and agencies of anti-corruption and democracy and intensifying awareness campaigns by especially Civil Society Organizations, with emphasis on oversight and monitoring the activities of the executive and legislative institutions in the country.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130300771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Millennials have long been portrayed as a politically disengaged and apathetic generation. In recent years, however, that portrayal has changed drastically. The rise of mass movements such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, the ‘Greta Thunberg movement’ and Momentum, together with the ‘campus culture wars’, have turned perceptions upside down. Today, Millennials are much more commonly described as a hyper-politicised generation, which embraces ‘woke’, progressive and anti-capitalist ideas. This is increasingly extended to the first cohorts of the subsequent generation, ‘Generation Z’. Surveys show that there is a lot of truth in the cliché of the ‘woke socialist Millennial’. Younger people really do quite consistently express hostility to capitalism, and positive views of socialist alternatives of some sort. For example, around 40 per cent of Millennials claim to have a favourable opinion of socialism and a similar proportion agree with the statement that ‘communism could have worked if it had been better executed’. For supporters of the market economy, this should be a cause for concern, but so far they have mostly chosen to ignore this phenomenon, or dismiss it with phrases such as ‘Young people have always gone through a juvenile socialist phase’ or ‘They will grow out of it’. But this is simply not borne out by the data. There are no detectable differences between the economic attitudes of people in their late teens and people in their early 40s. It is no longer true that people ‘grow out’ of socialist ideas as they get older. To fill in some of the remaining gaps in the literature, the IEA has commissioned an extensive survey into the economic attitudes of Millennials and ‘Zoomers’ (i.e. Generation Z), which broadly confirms and deepens the impression we get from previous surveys. For example, 67 per cent of younger people say they would like to live in a socialist economic system. Young people associate ‘socialism’ predominantly with positive terms, such as ‘workers’, ‘public’, ‘equal’ and ‘fair’. Very few associate it with ‘failure’ and virtually nobody associates it with Venezuela, the erstwhile showcase of ‘21st Century Socialism’. Capitalism, meanwhile, is predominantly associated with terms such as ‘exploitative’, ‘unfair’, ‘the rich’ and ‘corporations’. 75 per cent of young people agree with the assertion that climate change is a specifically capitalist problem (as opposed to a side-effect of industrial production that would occur in any economic system). 71 per cent agree with the assertion that capitalism fuels racism. 73 per cent agree that it fuels selfishness, greed, and materialism, while a socialist system would promote solidarity, compassion and cooperation. 78 per cent of young people blame capitalism (not NIMBYism and supply-side restrictions) for Britain’s housing crisis. Consequently, 78 per cent also believe that solving it requires large-scale government intervention, through measures such as rent controls and
{"title":"Left Turn Ahead: Surveying Attitudes of Young People Towards Capitalism and Socialism","authors":"K. Niemietz","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3893595","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3893595","url":null,"abstract":"Millennials have long been portrayed as a politically disengaged and apathetic generation. In recent years, however, that portrayal has changed drastically. The rise of mass movements such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, the ‘Greta Thunberg movement’ and Momentum, together with the ‘campus culture wars’, have turned perceptions upside down. Today, Millennials are much more commonly described as a hyper-politicised generation, which embraces ‘woke’, progressive and anti-capitalist ideas. This is increasingly extended to the first cohorts of the subsequent generation, ‘Generation Z’. Surveys show that there is a lot of truth in the cliché of the ‘woke socialist Millennial’. Younger people really do quite consistently express hostility to capitalism, and positive views of socialist alternatives of some sort. For example, around 40 per cent of Millennials claim to have a favourable opinion of socialism and a similar proportion agree with the statement that ‘communism could have worked if it had been better executed’. For supporters of the market economy, this should be a cause for concern, but so far they have mostly chosen to ignore this phenomenon, or dismiss it with phrases such as ‘Young people have always gone through a juvenile socialist phase’ or ‘They will grow out of it’. But this is simply not borne out by the data. There are no detectable differences between the economic attitudes of people in their late teens and people in their early 40s. It is no longer true that people ‘grow out’ of socialist ideas as they get older. To fill in some of the remaining gaps in the literature, the IEA has commissioned an extensive survey into the economic attitudes of Millennials and ‘Zoomers’ (i.e. Generation Z), which broadly confirms and deepens the impression we get from previous surveys. For example, 67 per cent of younger people say they would like to live in a socialist economic system. Young people associate ‘socialism’ predominantly with positive terms, such as ‘workers’, ‘public’, ‘equal’ and ‘fair’. Very few associate it with ‘failure’ and virtually nobody associates it with Venezuela, the erstwhile showcase of ‘21st Century Socialism’. Capitalism, meanwhile, is predominantly associated with terms such as ‘exploitative’, ‘unfair’, ‘the rich’ and ‘corporations’. 75 per cent of young people agree with the assertion that climate change is a specifically capitalist problem (as opposed to a side-effect of industrial production that would occur in any economic system). 71 per cent agree with the assertion that capitalism fuels racism. 73 per cent agree that it fuels selfishness, greed, and materialism, while a socialist system would promote solidarity, compassion and cooperation. 78 per cent of young people blame capitalism (not NIMBYism and supply-side restrictions) for Britain’s housing crisis. Consequently, 78 per cent also believe that solving it requires large-scale government intervention, through measures such as rent controls and ","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132819777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Previous studies have documented evidence of endemic corruption in the water and sanitation sector but only a few studies have examined the link between corruption and access to water. Drawing on data from the Afrobarometer surveys, which record 45,000 households’ access to water across sub-Saharan Africa, we find that corruption is associated with a lower likelihood of access to water for household purposes. We show that corruption in the utilities sector is driving this result and that corruption in other contexts is not associated with access to water. While an individual who has paid a bribe for utilities is more likely to have a water access point, the local incidence of utilities corruption strongly predicts that the household will not have enough clean water for home use. Individual acts of bribery, while associated with increased nominal connectivity to a water network, are not associated with greater access in reality. We conclude that corruption distorts decision making and resource allocation in the water sector, leaving households worse off. Our findings underline the importance of targeted efforts to control corruption in public utilities, in order to guarantee access to clean water for all.
{"title":"Money Down the Drain: Corruption and Access to Water in Sub-Saharan Africa","authors":"Michael Breen, Robert Gillanders","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3866657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3866657","url":null,"abstract":"Previous studies have documented evidence of endemic corruption in the water and sanitation sector but only a few studies have examined the link between corruption and access to water. Drawing on data from the Afrobarometer surveys, which record 45,000 households’ access to water across sub-Saharan Africa, we find that corruption is associated with a lower likelihood of access to water for household purposes. We show that corruption in the utilities sector is driving this result and that corruption in other contexts is not associated with access to water. While an individual who has paid a bribe for utilities is more likely to have a water access point, the local incidence of utilities corruption strongly predicts that the household will not have enough clean water for home use. Individual acts of bribery, while associated with increased nominal connectivity to a water network, are not associated with greater access in reality. We conclude that corruption distorts decision making and resource allocation in the water sector, leaving households worse off. Our findings underline the importance of targeted efforts to control corruption in public utilities, in order to guarantee access to clean water for all.","PeriodicalId":170831,"journal":{"name":"Public Choice: Analysis of Collective Decision-Making eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127141256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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