{ "title": "The Measurement and Macro-Relevance of Corruption: A Big Data Approach", "publication": "IMF Working Papers, August 31, 2018", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157", "overlayPath": "/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157/index.md", "summary": "Corruption is macro-relevant for many countries, but is often hidden, making measurement of it—and its effects—inherently difficult.", "sections": [ { "heading": "Objective and contribution", "content": "- Address limitations of existing corruption indicators: lack of time variation, reliance on a limited pool of experts, and inability to distinguish corruption from institutional capacity gaps.\n- Construct the first big data, cross-country news flow indices of corruption (NIC) and anti-corruption (anti-NIC).\n- Leverage news media coverage by running country-specific search algorithms over more than 665 million international news articles.\n- Provide indices that correlate with existing measures of corruption while offering additional richness in time-series variation." }, { "heading": "Methodology", "content": "- Build NIC and anti-NIC indices using country-specific search algorithms applied to a corpus of more than 665 million international news articles.\n- Draw on theory from corporate finance and behavioral economics to assess how news about corruption and anti-corruption efforts affects economic agents’ assessments and subsequent economic outcomes.\n- Use event-study style analysis to link NIC and anti-NIC news shocks to financial and real economic variables." }, { "heading": "Key findings and quantitative results", "content": "- NIC shocks negatively impact financial variables (e.g., stock market returns and yield spreads) and real variables (e.g., growth), with some country heterogeneity.\n- On average, NIC shocks lower real per capita GDP growth by 3 percentage points over a two-year period, illustrating persistence in the effect of such shocks.\n- Anti-NIC efforts show suggestive evidence of a sustained positive macro impact only when paired with meaningful institutional strengthening, proxied by capacity development efforts.\n- NIC and anti-NIC indices correlate well with existing measures of corruption while providing additional time-series variation." }, { "heading": "Policy implications and recommendations", "content": "- Monitoring corruption through high-frequency, large-scale news-based indices (NIC and anti-NIC) can complement existing perception-based measures and capture temporal dynamics of corruption-related events.\n- Anti-corruption initiatives may yield sustained positive macroeconomic effects primarily when combined with institutional capacity development; isolated anti-corruption publicity or enforcement without capacity strengthening may be insufficient.\n- Policymakers and international agencies should consider pairing anti-corruption efforts with targeted capacity development to realize durable macroeconomic benefits.\n\nSource: IMF Working Paper \"The Measurement and Macro-Relevance of Corruption: A Big Data Approach\", Sandile Hlatshwayo, Anne Oeking, Manuk Ghazanchyan, David Corvino, Ananya Shukla, Lamin Y Leigh, August 31, 2018.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- The Measurement and Macro-Relevance of Corruption: A Big Data Approach, WP/18/195, August 2018\n - The Measurement and Macro-Relevance of Corruption: A Big Data Approach, WP/18/195, August 2018 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - The Measurement and Macro-Relevance of Corruption: A Big Data Approach, WP/18/195, August 2018 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157/bundle-manifest.json)", "Authors: Sandile Hlatshwayo, Anne Oeking, Manuk Ghazanchyan, David Corvino, Ananya Shukla, Lamin Y Leigh", "Published: August 31, 2018", "Series: IMF Working Papers", "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484373095.001", "Address limitations of existing corruption indicators: lack of time variation, reliance on a limited pool of experts, and inability to distinguish corruption from institutional capacity gaps.", "Construct the first big data, cross-country news flow indices of corruption (NIC) and anti-corruption (anti-NIC).", "Leverage news media coverage by running country-specific search algorithms over more than 665 million international news articles.", "Provide indices that correlate with existing measures of corruption while offering additional richness in time-series variation.", "Build NIC and anti-NIC indices using country-specific search algorithms applied to a corpus of more than 665 million international news articles.", "Draw on theory from corporate finance and behavioral economics to assess how news about corruption and anti-corruption efforts affects economic agents’ assessments and subsequent economic outcomes.", "Use event-study style analysis to link NIC and anti-NIC news shocks to financial and real economic variables.", "NIC shocks negatively impact financial variables (e.g., stock market returns and yield spreads) and real variables (e.g., growth), with some country heterogeneity.", "On average, NIC shocks lower real per capita GDP growth by 3 percentage points over a two-year period, illustrating persistence in the effect of such shocks.", "Anti-NIC efforts show suggestive evidence of a sustained positive macro impact only when paired with meaningful institutional strengthening, proxied by capacity development efforts.", "NIC and anti-NIC indices correlate well with existing measures of corruption while providing additional time-series variation.", "Monitoring corruption through high-frequency, large-scale news-based indices (NIC and anti-NIC) can complement existing perception-based measures and capture temporal dynamics of corruption-related events.", "Anti-corruption initiatives may yield sustained positive macroeconomic effects primarily when combined with institutional capacity development; isolated anti-corruption publicity or enforcement without capacity strengthening may be insufficient.", "Policymakers and international agencies should consider pairing anti-corruption efforts with targeted capacity development to realize durable macroeconomic benefits.", "**The Measurement and Macro-Relevance of Corruption: A Big Data Approach, WP/18/195, August 2018**" ], "related": [ { "title": "The Measurement and Macro-Relevance of Corruption: A Big Data Approach, WP/18/195, August 2018", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/wp/2018/wp18195.pdf", "summary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/wp/2018/wp18195.pdf.md", "mime": "text/markdown" }, "binary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/wp/2018/wp18195.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } } ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157/index.md", "json": "/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/08/31/the-measurement-and-macro-relevance-of-corruption-a-big-data-approach-46157/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-18T14:01:19.162Z" }