Diss.--Theologische Fakultät--Zürich--Universität Zürich, 1991/1992.

Magister Legum - LLM

This dissertation is a collection of three chapters on the effect of corruption on inflation through public finance channels. Those chapters test the following hypothesis corrupt officials such as tax collectors, procurement officials, government sales officials, and so on, waste liquid government resources through their corrupt practices. The waste of resources by corrupt officials at multiple levels of a government may cause budget deficits or at least create a need for liquidities. Therefore, a government will evaluate its available options to meet this need and make a decision taking into consideration one or a combination of options. Such a decision is unavoidable. The first attempt at a solution may take the form of seigniorage, followed by borrowing. Financing this need will result in expansionary budget spending, thus leading to higher inflation. Chapter 1 tests the effects of corruption on inflation through public finance channels, seigniorage and debt financing. We use data for 1995 2011 across 72 countries, and apply techniques that control for the possible endogeneity. In all of our various models the estimated specifications show that corruption contributes to inflation both on its own and through public finance channels. The results are significant and have the right sign, which gives evidence of the contribution made by corrupt officials to increasing inflation, thus eventually hurting growth. The positive and significant results linking debt financing with corruption indicate that corrupt officials have alternative sources of funds when seigniorage is restricted. For policy makers, bringing about a diminishment in the effects of corruption on inflation requires a parallel strategy involving both central bank independence and government borrowing. In Chapter 2 we have investigated the relationship between corruption and inflation for all US states by examining the misuse of federal transfers to states as a channel. Our state level corruption measure consists of the number of officials convicted. We use data for the period of from 1992 through 2007 with different model specifications, fixed effect and second stage least square models. We find that state corruption contributes to higher levels of inflation. This result is robust throughout our differing model specifications. The effect of corruption on inflation takes place indirectly through state public financing, specifically federal transfer. In addition, our results are also robust when scaling convicted officials to size of state population, number of state prisoners, and number of state public employees. Chapter 3 tests our hypothesis using a developing country over regional level, Indian states. We use corruption data on perception and experience that Below Poverty Line households encounter when obtaining public services. We assume that corruption across Indian states hurts people who live below the poverty line. These people are already hurt by their poverty, which causes state governments to spend more to provide them aid and which also prevents such households from effectively participating in the state's economic growth. These high levels of state spending and lower growth rates have inflationary consequences. We found no direct relationship between corruption and inflation, indicating in agreement with the literature on corruption that the impact of corruption on inflation through certain channels is indirect, through public finance channel. We conclude that Indian state governments suffer from corruption that causes the "common man" to pay bribes in exchange for public services. This causes more households to claim more aid from their state governments, also prevents those households from effectively participating in their state's economic growth. Thereby, the rate of inflation increases along with this expansionary state spending.

Thesis advisor: Daniel Daly / Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / I propose in this long essay that men and women of virtue, clergy and lay alike, who dot the Nigerian landscape, bedeviled by vices and lack of social trust, can, by their virtuous formation and lives, bring enduring change. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

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This thesis explores how football (soccer) is used as a tool to promote corruption within political and economic institutions in Latin America and Europe. By drawing on international political and economic policies and analyzing work that theorizes how neoliberalism is not only an outside force that highly influences the state, but also shapes power relationships in society that are procreated by every day economic actions of the working class, this research aims to provide a more theoretically informed perspective on global politics. This thesis also examines how entrepreneurial endeavors can lead to relations of exploitation, extraction and economic dispossession in broader political society. More specifically, it analyses neoliberalism in Argentina and Germany through the perspective of state power, informal economies, and international migration. Lastly, this research portrays the mindset of Argentine and German politicians over the last century by analyzing the actions of the elites within the football clubs and organizations under the guise of entrepreneurship. / Master of Arts / This thesis aims to understand the corrupt ways in which football (soccer) is used within Latin America and Europe to illicitly gain political and economic power. More specifically, it aims at analyzing neoliberalism in Argentina and Germany through the perspective of state power, informal economies, and international migration. The aim of this research is to understand how the footballing industry can lead to relations of manipulation, extraction, and economic impoverishment within broader society seen through the connections between politicians, club officials, and third party illicit actors.

<p>In this research report, I evaluate the role of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) which was established by the Government of Botswana in 1994 to play a major role in the fight against corruption and economic crime in the country. I establish what led to the formation of the DCEC and assess whether the DCEC has met its aims and objectives. I also evaluate the legislation that gives the DCEC the powers to fight corruption and economic crime and ascertain if it is sufficient and effective.<br /> I explore the challenges and constraints faced by the DCEC, and assess the effectiveness of the three-pronged strategy adopted by it in combating corruption and economic crime in Botswana. I critically evaluate the successes and failures of the DCEC and find whether the public expectations for the DCEC have been met.</p>

This thesis is about the complex relationship between governance, corruption and economic development. It seeks to extend the literature via exploring the complex web of connections between corruption, development and the quality of political institutions in the specific case of Nigeria. In so doing the thesis explores some of the limitations of mainstream approaches to corruption and postulates that, rather than being a simple issue of rent-seeking that requires a prescription of orthodox economic policy reforms, corruption is an issue that requires contextualizing within the evolution of particular political cultures in specific places and a sensitivity to the impacts of culture on the definitions, causes and impacts of corruption. The thesis also reflects upon the impacts of market reforms on the opportunities for corrupt activity and the potential role of civil society in rendering anti-corruption interventions more effective. Accordingly, the thesis places the current high-profile debates over corruption and poor governance in Nigeria within an historical analysis of the patterns of governance in Nigeria over the years since independence in order to understand the intricate issues surrounding the historical, cultural and socio-political context of the problems of governance and corruption and their influence on anti-corruption reforms in the Nigerian context. Data were collected and analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods; the methods used in data collection included questionnaires and in particular a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with key political stakeholders. The analysis culminates in an extensive exploration of the anti-corruption measures and strategies adopted by Nigerian administrations and the efforts of the international organisations which have supported them in tackling corruption.

This dissertation seeks to examine why democratic systems and electoral competition can sometimes fail to secure clean government in the interest of the electorate. The question of why voters support corrupt politicians, despite disapproving of corruption itself, is of critical importance if it is to be believed that corruption has a detrimental effect on development. The core argument of this dissertation is that party system features that improve accountability by shaping the efficacy of elections as tools to select and control politicians, play a vital and overlooked role in conditioning the scope for corruption. I conceive of governmental corruption as a classical principal-agent model, in which voters‘ relationships with their representatives are mediated by the extent to which party systems enable the electorate to select non-malfeasant politicians who seek to curb corruption and to hold accountable those who do not. This thesis purports that party systems which reduce agency problems confronting voters, by making available information regarding the quality of their incumbents and potential challengers and structurating effective, choices at the polls, decrease the latitude for governmental corruption. This thesis probes this argument through a controlled comparative analysis of corruption in 91 contemporary democracies and three nested-design case studies. The large-N analysis and the case studies of Panama, India, and Mexico offer broad support for these hypotheses.

Doctor of Philosophy / Using the Wood Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service in 1994 as its major case study, this thesis hypothesises that, although this inquiry had a far reaching impact on both the personal and working lives of police officers in the organisation itself, it proved ineffectual in its attempt to control corruption. It argues that corruption, and the subsequent inquiries into this corruption, can be seen to have a cyclic nature and the failure of such inquiries has a long and international history. It contends that the nature of the public inquiry itself can be seen to contribute to the continuation of the cycle of corruption. Clearly, putting an end to corruption requires more than the investigation, public exposure and punishment of a few corrupt police, followed by a generalised tightening of the chain of command. Instead, this thesis demonstrates that the problem is primarily an organisational one and it is important to look at management reforms. This thesis contends that the cycle of corruption involves the nature of police work; the catalyst that triggers the inquiry; the inquiry itself and the issue of the report; and the police and community responses. An examination of all these factors is crucial to understanding the cycle’s dynamics. The final report of the Wood Royal Commission was in 1996 and this thesis specifically analyses the cycle of corruption in relation to the response of the police executive to this inquiry. It shows how the police response focused on the tactical crisis response central to operational policing — in this case appeasing official censure and community fears. As little more than a public relations exercise, senior management strategically addressed the specific recommendations of the report rather than creatively considering the implications exposed during the inquiry. The idea that corruption is a symptom of an ineffective system and not simply a slackening of effective control by senior management was never considered. In the aftermath of the Wood Royal Commission there was much discussion about ‘police culture’ being ‘a culture of corruption’. The forgotten casualties of the inquiry has been individual police officers, many of whom see policing as a vocation. This thesis has allowed many voices to be heard and used both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse a wide range of information and data, which included personal interviews with serving police officers and members of external organisations, as well as printed material from Royal Commission Reports, Hansard and other government documents, internal Police Service documents and media reports.It has used Bourdieu’s theoretical approach which allows an analysis of the complex relationships involved between police officers as individuals who operate within the wider networks of a specific organisation and the way the personal is important as an explanatory tool of what happens within a policing culture and how this culture is perceived differently from within and without. Bourdieu’s theory also facilitates analysis of the interactions of this network with the wider community, putting in context the responses of both the police service and the community. The connection with the personal is important as an explanatory tool of what happens within a policing culture and how this culture is perceived differently from within and without. Bourdieu constructs an understanding of the ‘nature of the game’ of policing and the shaping of the individual within police culture, giving insight into the source of moral dilemmas, personal beliefs and personal behaviour. As the current management system of command and control is at the heart of this response, this thesis has also analysed the assumptions inherent in this management philosophy, considering both necessary operational strengths as well as organisational weaknesses. A central theme of the thesis is that open dialogue will reduce the incidence of corruption and risk within policing institutions. This thesis argues that there must be an integrative approach to reform — accountable, active leadership combined with critically constructed practical approaches that tackle the complexity of the dynamics embedded in the ‘nature of the game’ of policing itself.