The Impact of Public Officials' Corruption on the Size and Allocation of US State Spending

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Liu, Cheol; Mikesell, John L.
• 署名单位: City University of Hong Kong; Indiana University System; Indiana University Bloomington
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12212
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 346-359
• 关键词: panel-data; ECONOMIC-GROWTH; tax; elasticity; tests; debt

摘要

This article demonstrates the impact of public officials' corruption on the size and allocation of U.S. state spending. Extending two theories of excessive government expansion, the authors argue that public officials' corruption should cause state spending to be artificially elevated. Corruption increased state spending over the period 1997-2008. During that time, the 10 most corrupt states could have reduced their total annual expenditure by an average of $1,308 per capita5.2 percent of the mean per capita state expenditureif corruption had been at the average level of the states. Moreover, at the expense of social sectors, corruption is likely to distort states' public resource allocations in favor of higher-potential bribe-generating spending and items directly beneficial to public officials, such as capital, construction, highways, borrowing, and total salaries and wages. The authors use an objective, concrete, and consistent measurement of corruption, the number of convictions.