The cancer of corruption and World Bank project performance
- Motivation: Corruption is often cited as a central reason why development projects fail. The article tests this claim by assessing whether World Bank projects perform worse in implementation environments with a higher corruption level. The article focuses specifically on bribery between public officials and firms during the procurement of needed goods and services. Approach and Methods: I use data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys to avoid the often-criticized corruption perception indices and to allow for an assessment of effects at the subnational level. The analysis builds on an assessment of the performance ratings of 1,228 World Bank projects and covers 87 different countries. Finding: Overall, the article finds a small but statistically significant correlation between the corruption level and project performance. This result indicates that the corruption level of recipient countries should be considered during the design and implementation of projects. Policy Implications: Nonetheless, the relatively small correlation andMotivation: Corruption is often cited as a central reason why development projects fail. The article tests this claim by assessing whether World Bank projects perform worse in implementation environments with a higher corruption level. The article focuses specifically on bribery between public officials and firms during the procurement of needed goods and services. Approach and Methods: I use data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys to avoid the often-criticized corruption perception indices and to allow for an assessment of effects at the subnational level. The analysis builds on an assessment of the performance ratings of 1,228 World Bank projects and covers 87 different countries. Finding: Overall, the article finds a small but statistically significant correlation between the corruption level and project performance. This result indicates that the corruption level of recipient countries should be considered during the design and implementation of projects. Policy Implications: Nonetheless, the relatively small correlation and the low pseudo R-squareds advise not overestimating the relevance of corruption for project performance. At least for the project level, the article finds no indication that corruption is a primary obstacle to aid effectiveness.…
Author details: | Hauke FeilORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12503 |
ISSN: | 1467-7679 |
ISSN: | 0950-6764 |
Title of parent work (English): | Development policy review / publ. for the Overseas Development Institute |
Subtitle (German): | Is there a connection? |
Publisher: | Blackwell Publ. |
Place of publishing: | Oxford |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2020/05/16 |
Publication year: | 2021 |
Release date: | 2021/11/01 |
Tag: | Aid effectiveness; Enterprise Survey; World Bank; corruption; project performance |
Volume: | 39 |
Issue: | 3 |
Number of pages: | 17 |
First page: | 381 |
Last Page: | 397 |
Funding institution: | Universität Potsdam |
Funding institution: | Deutsche Bundesbank |
Organizational units: | Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Sozialwissenschaften / Fachgruppe Politik- & Verwaltungswissenschaft |
DDC classification: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 30 Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie / 300 Sozialwissenschaften |
3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft | |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |
External remark: | Zweitveröffentlichung in der Schriftenreihe Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe ; 143 |