A Sentiment-Enhanced Corruption Perception Index
IMF Working Papers, July 23, 2021
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- A Sentiment-Enhanced Corruption Perception Index
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Yongquan Cao, Yingjie Fan, Sandile Hlatshwayo, Monica Petrescu, Zaijin Zhan
- Published: July 23, 2021
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513588889.001
Overview
- Constructs a non-survey based perceptions index (SECPI) for 111 countries by applying sentiment analysis to Financial Times articles over 2005–18.
- The SECPI captures both the frequency of corruption-related articles and the articles’ sentiment towards corruption.
- Advantages cited: heightened sensitivity to current events (e.g., corruption investigations and elections), availability at a higher frequency, and lower costs to update.
- The SECPI is correlated with existing corruption perception indexes but offers distinct features.
Methodology
- Data source: Financial Times articles spanning 2005–18.
- Coverage: 111 countries.
- Approach: Sentiment analysis applied to news articles to produce a perceptions index that reflects both article frequency and sentiment.
Key Findings and Statistics
- SECPI captures frequency of corruption-related articles and sentiment toward corruption.
- SECPI is negatively correlated with business environment and institutional quality.
- When the SECPI is at least one standard deviation above the mean, the growth per capita falls by 0.65 percentage point on average.
- Impacts are more pronounced for emerging market and low income countries.
- Publication metadata included in the source:
- Pages: 27
- Volume: 2021
- Issue: 192
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513588889.001
- Stock No: WPIEA2021192
- ISBN: 9781513588889
- ISSN: 1018-5941
Policy-relevant Implications
- Higher-frequency, lower-cost perception measures like the SECPI can improve monitoring of corruption perceptions around current events such as corruption investigations and elections.
- Because increases in perceived incidence or scope of corruption influence economic agents’ behaviors and economic dynamics, timely perception measures can inform policy responses aimed at mitigating adverse growth effects, especially in emerging market and low income countries.
- The negative correlation with business environment and institutional quality suggests that policies strengthening institutions and business conditions could be aligned with efforts to reduce corruption perceptions.
Source: A Sentiment-Enhanced Corruption Perception Index, Yongquan Cao; Yingjie Fan; Sandile Hlatshwayo; Monica Petrescu; Zaijin Zhan, July 23, 2021, IMF Working Paper No. 2021/192.
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- Working Paper