1 option
Deals and Delays : Firm-Level Evidence on Corruption and Policy Implementation Times / Caroline Freund
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (formerly "World Bank E-Library Publications") Available online
View online- Format:
- Book
- Government document
- Author/Creator:
- Freund, Caroline
- Series:
- Policy research working papers.
- World Bank e-Library.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Access to Finance.
- Bribery.
- Corruption.
- Crime and Society.
- E-Business.
- Enforcement.
- Finance and Financial Sector Development.
- Governance.
- Licensing.
- Private Sector Development.
- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measure.
- Public Sector Development.
- Social Development.
- Local Subjects:
- Access to Finance.
- Bribery.
- Corruption.
- Crime and Society.
- E-Business.
- Enforcement.
- Finance and Financial Sector Development.
- Governance.
- Licensing.
- Private Sector Development.
- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measure.
- Public Sector Development.
- Social Development.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (43 pages)
- Other Title:
- Deals and Delays
- Place of Publication:
- Washington, D.C., The World Bank, 2014
- System Details:
- data file
- Summary:
- This paper examines whether demands for bribes for particular government services are associated with expedited or delayed policy implementation. The "grease the wheels" hypothesis, which contends that bribes act as speed money, implies three testable predictions. First, on average, bribe requests should be negatively correlated with wait times. Second, this relationship should vary across firms, with those with the highest opportunity cost of waiting being more likely to pay and face shorter delays. Third, the role of grease should vary across countries, with benefits larger where regulatory burdens are greatest. The data are inconsistent with all three predictions. According to the preferred specifications, ceteris paribus, firms confronted with demands for bribes take approximately 1.5 times longer to get a construction permit, operating license, or electrical connection than firms that did not have to pay bribes and, respectively, 1.2 and 1.4 times longer to clear customs when exporting and importing. The results are robust to controlling for firm fixed effects and at odds with the notion that corruption enhances efficiency.
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.