## _wp00182

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [_wp00182](https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2000/_wp00182.pdf)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2000/_wp00182.pdf.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2000/_wp00182.pdf.json)

---

### Main findings on corruption and development
- For a sample of 97 countries in 1997, countries with higher perceived corruption tend to have lower real per capita GDP.
- Conversely, countries with low per capita income tend to have higher corruption.
- The correlation coefficient is –0.80 which is statistically significant with a t-ratio of –13.2.
- There is a negative association between corruption perception indexes and economic growth as measured by growth in real per capita GDP.

### Data and measurement notes
- The corruption perception index is the extended Transparency International index and is taken from Lambsdorff (1998).
- Real per capita GDP is in purchasing power parity U.S. Dollars and is taken from International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook database.
- The original index which ranges from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean) has been rescaled (i.e., adjusted index=10-original index) so that higher values of the adjusted index represent higher perceptions of corruption.
- Similar results are obtained using other corruption indexes.
- Recent studies of causes of corruption interpret this correlation as causation running from per capita GDP to corruption; see Treisman (2000).

### Visual evidence (Figure 1)
- Figure 1 presents the relationship between the adjusted Corruption Perception Index and real per capita GDP for 97 countries in 1997, illustrating the negative correlation described above.

*Source: _wp00182*

---


_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2000/_wp00182.pdf_