Corruption: Costs and Mitigating Strategies
Staff Discussion Notes, May 11, 2016
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- Corruption: Costs and Mitigating Strategies
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Bibliographic details
- Published: May 11, 2016
- Series: Staff Discussion Notes
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513594330.006
Urgency and Context
- Corruption addressing has become increasingly urgent in both developed and developing countries amid subdued growth and employment prospects and high-profile corruption cases that have fueled moral outrage.
- Growing consensus: corruption can seriously undermine a country’s ability to deliver inclusive economic growth in multiple areas.
Economic and Social Costs
- Corruption can impair government functions and adversely affect important determinants of economic performance, including:
- macrofinancial stability
- investment
- human capital accumulation
- total factor productivity
- Systemic corruption that affects virtually all state functions can generate pervasive distrust of government and can lead to:
- violence
- civil strife
- conflict
- devastating social and economic implications
Focus and Definition
- This Staff Discussion Note focuses on corruption arising from the abuse of public office for private gain, whether it manifests as:
- transactional corruption (for example, a bribe)
- powerful networks between business and government that effectively result in the privatization of public policy
Priority Elements of an Anticorruption Strategy (IMF Experience)
- Transparency
- Rule of law
- Economic reform policies designed to eliminate excessive regulation
- Building effective institutions with the clear objective of developing a competent civil service that is independent of both private influence and public interference
Content in this bundle
- Corruption: Costs and Mitigating Strategies; IMF Staff Discussion Note No. 16/05, May 11, 2016