Economic well-being, life satisfaction and corruption aversion

Why did anti-corruption reforms in post-soviet countries not produce the expected results? Luca Andriani and co-author Gaygysyz Ashyrov explore the hypothesis, based on institutional economics, that compliance with specific formal rules increases in the presence of social norms and values supporting these rules. They test whether economic well-being and life satisfaction are predictors of corruption aversion across 29 former socialist countries from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, using data from the third wave of the Life in Transition Survey (2015-2016). Preliminary results suggest greater corruption aversion among individuals reporting a higher economic well-being and a higher score in life satisfaction. Furthermore, estimations also suggest that both life satisfaction and economic well-being increase the probability of an individual to report a corrupt behaviour when she sees it or experiences it. These results inevitably enrich the recent debate on the importance of convergence of social and cultural values with capitalistic market principles and rule of law.

The talk will be followed by questions from the audience, and a Wine and Cake Reception.