Gender, Culture, and Corruption: Insights from an Experimental Analysis

30 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2008

See all articles by Vivi Alatas

Vivi Alatas

World Bank - Jakarta

Lisa A. Cameron

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; J-PAL

Ananish Chaudhuri

University of Auckland Business School

Nisvan Erkal

University of Melbourne - Faculty of Business and Economics

Lata Gangadharan

University of Melbourne - Department of Economics

Abstract

In recent years, a substantial body of work has explored the differences in the behavior of men and women in a variety of economic transactions. We contribute to this literature by investigating gender differences in behavior when confronted with a common bribery problem. Our study departs from the previous literature on gender and corruption by using economic experiments. Based on data collected in Australia (Melbourne), India (Delhi), Indonesia (Jakarta) and Singapore, we show that while women in Australia are less tolerant of corruption than men in Australia, there are no significant gender differences in the propensities to engage in and punish corrupt behavior in India, Indonesia and Singapore. Hence, our findings suggest that the gender differences reported in the previous studies may not be nearly as universal as stated and may be more culture-specific. We also explore behavioral differences by gender across countries and find that there are larger variations in women's behavior towards corruption than in men's across the countries in our sample.

Keywords: Gender, Corruption, Experiments, Punishment, Multicultural Analysis

JEL Classification: C91, J16, K42, O12

Suggested Citation

Alatas, Vivi and Cameron, Lisa A. and Chaudhuri, Ananish and Erkal, Nisvan and Gangadharan, Lata, Gender, Culture, and Corruption: Insights from an Experimental Analysis. Southern Economic Journal, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1088811

Vivi Alatas

World Bank - Jakarta ( email )

Jakarta Stock Exchange Bldg. Tower 2, 12th Floor
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 52-53
Jakarta, 12190
Indonesia

Lisa A. Cameron

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research ( email )

Level 5, FBE Building, 111 Barry Street
Parkville, Victoria 3010
Australia

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/personnel/photos/index_html?key=744

J-PAL ( email )

66 bis avenue Jean Moulin
Paris, 75014
France

HOME PAGE: http://www.povertyactionlab.org/cameron

Ananish Chaudhuri

University of Auckland Business School ( email )

12 Grafton Rd
Private Bag 92019
Auckland, 1010
New Zealand

Nisvan Erkal (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne - Faculty of Business and Economics ( email )

Victoria, 3010
Australia
+61 3 8344 3307 (Phone)
+61 3 8344 6899 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.nisvanerkal.net

Lata Gangadharan

University of Melbourne - Department of Economics ( email )

Victoria, 3010
Australia
+61 3 9344 5408 (Phone)
61 3 8344 6899 (Fax)

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