This Anti-Corruption Helpdesk brief was produced in response to a query from a U4 Partner Agency. The U4 Helpdesk is operated by Transparency International in collaboration with the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre based at the Chr. Michelsen Institute.
Query
Please empirically assess the impact of selected anti-corruption measures on economic growth.
Summary
Empirical studies that have assessed the links between anti-corruption measures and economic growth – across various local and national country-income levels – find varying results depending on a given anti-corruption measure and the indicator(s) of economic performance selected by the study’s author. Overall, evidence suggests that anti-corruption measures generally have a positive effect on growth, but may distort investment patterns in certain settings under specific circumstances.
Main points
- Evidence shows that the selected anti-corruption reforms can boost economic growth, but this success is largely dependent on institutional quality.
- The economic benefits of anti-corruption measures often only become apparent over a longer timeframe. Immediate impacts are rare and often negligible.
- Open contracting and competitive procurement can contribute to increased GDP and per capita income, cost savings, and improved firm performance. Effects are strong across all country income levels.
- The enforcement of measures to counter foreign bribery (via e.g., FCPA, UKBA, OECD Convention) deters investment into high-corruption economies and drives growth through improved firm performance and institutional quality. Studies highlight reductions in foreign direct investment to and capital expenditure in corruption-prone jurisdictions, with more pronounced economic impacts in high and low-income countries and mixed effects in middle-income countries.
- Fiscal transparency can drive economic growth by stimulating increased foreign direct investment, improved debt sustainability and better government spending particularly in higher income and well-governed contexts. Results vary in low and middle-income countries based on institutional quality.
- Methods that empirically assess the impact of anti-corruption measures on economic growth vary greatly across the literature, ranging from panel regressions and correlational models to causal models like difference-in-differences and synthetic control.
Contents
- Conceptual framework
- Integrity in public contracting and concessions
- Foreign brbiery legislations
- Fiscal transparency
- References
Caveat
The Helpdesk Answer makes some effort to assess the quality and robustness of the reviewed studies. However, given the complexity of the models, determining the validity of methodologies and the credibility of certain findings would require a detailed examination of each study by an econometrist.
There are many types of anti-corruption measures, from the founding of anti-corruption agencies to the establishment of whistleblowing channels. Each of these can have disparate effects on economic growth. This paper considers three measures: promoting integrity in public contracting and concessions, foreign bribery legislation and fiscal transparency. These measures were selected for their broad analytical scope and evidence that captures a range of indicators of economic growth across different country income levels and on the macro and microeconomic scales.
This question, of whether a given anti-corruption measure has an effect on economic growth, can have an attribution problem. For example, a particular study might find the economic impact of enforcement actions related to foreign bribery legislation to be negligible. This could either be because enforcing foreign bribery makes no material difference to economic growth or because the enforcement actions are poorly designed or implemented and therefore have no effect in reducing foreign bribery. Many studies implicitly assume that the measures they examine have been effectively applied.
Authors
Sam Parrett-Jung
Reviewers
Matthew Jenkins (TI) and Rosa Loureiro Revilla (U4)
Date
14/10/2025
Tags
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