Persistence of corruption: some theoretical perspectives

SummaryThe paper examines how pervasive corruption can be persistent. Despite the presence of anti-corruption measures and incentives, corruption has a strong tendency to persist. In the first part, we discuss how a high level of corruption or a low level of compliance can be an equilibrium outcome. In such a case, corruption becomes the social norm. In the second part of the paper, we use ides from evolutionary game theory to discuss how corrupt behavior can be immune to interventions and it can sustain itself against different individual behavioral norms.