(From Raj Nallari and Indira Iyer's lecture notes)

The literature on corruption is large and growing. In this and upcoming Fridays Academy comments we will attempt to capture the essence of the arguments and provide some empirical evidence on the impact of corruption on growth and poverty reduction. Corruption, which includes bribery, rent-seeking, extortion, embezzlement, is perceived as a major problem facing many countries.  Corruption has therefore been variously defined to mean ‘the misuse of public office for private gain.’   This does not mean that there is no corruption in the private sector because this is quite common in (private) financial firms.  But, corruption is more severe in the public sector than in the private sector.  One of the first known articles on corruption and its punishment is in Kautilya’s Arthasastra (dating back to 14 BC).  Corruption is found to be closely inter-related with a country’s social norms, formal and informal rules and culture as well as legal environment in a country.  No matter what, corruption connotes illegal or improper (moral) behavior and is treated as a ‘socially and culturally deviant behavior.’  From political science point of view, high level of corruption coincides with political instability and tends to reduce citizen’s trust and faith in institutions.

Measurement of Corruption

read more

The World Development Indicators is the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development. The 2009 WDI includes more than 800 indicators in over 90 tables organized in 6 sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links.

WDI online database available for subscribers. Selected indicators can also be accessed for free with the quick query.

A while ago we mentioned the publication of the World Bank’s newest study on poverty: “Moving Out of Poverty: Success from the Bottom Up”.

A video of a recent presentation of this publication at the World Bank is now available on-line. Participants included, among others, Deepa Narayan, Project Director of the study, and Geoffrey Lamb, Managing Director of Public Policy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Columbia University’s Earth Institute has a site grouping four different blogs from its researchers and staff: State of the Planet, Climate and Energy, Water, and Millennium Villages.

Its Director, Jeffrey Sachs, is blogging there occasionally among many others. Worth visiting.

A while ago we wrote about the World Bank's Geo, a very useful Google map to browse WB's projects, news, statistics and public information centers by country.

The online directory AiDA (Accessible Information on Development Activities), has now put together a similar Google map with information about development activities. By clicking on a country we can see a summary of the development activities taking place there, classified according to Sector, Agency and Donor. 

A new working paper by Stephany Griffith-Jones and José Antonio Ocampo, published by UNDP's International Poverty Centre, looks at the impact that the financial crisis is having on developing countries. The paper identifies three mechanisms that play a key role in spreading the consequences of the financial crisis to the developing world: remittances, capital flows and trade.

A one-pager also available from the IPC: How Does the Financial Crisis Affect Developing Countries?

More information on this topic at the World Bank's blog Crisis Talk.

Professor Jagdish Bhagwati participated on a Global Dialogue organized by the World Bank Institute, on the trade impact of the global economic crisis and trade policy responses. Other trade experts from Brazil, India, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, Korea, Thailand and Sri Lanka joined this discussion, part of our ongoing series of Global Dialogues as a Response to the Global Economic Crisis.
 
Watch a video of the discussion.
Access the main page of the Global Dialogues series.