An Agency Cost Approach to Public Sector Corruption

Abstract

There is an identifiable and distinct body of law and administrative regulations on state enterprise governance, anticorruption and public sector ethics emerging in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The law and administrative structures are still developing but they are sufficiently well developed to be recognized as distinct regimes. These emerging regimes are based on the common law, English legislation which have been received or replicated in by the legislatures of the region, and several contemporary legislative and administrative initiatives, many of which have been provoked by international and Inter-American developments. The several Anglophonic jurisdictions of the Caribbean and Central American region, operate in an integrated regional context and each territory draws much of its understanding of the law and social policy from what is taking place in its sister territories of the region. Agency cost theory is a useful theory to advise policy makers and policy administrators in the emerging regime on anticorruption and state enterprise governance.

Keywords: administration, agency cost theory, corruption, caribbean, law, legislation

JEL Classification: A12, A13, G30, G38, H11, K14, K42, L32, M14