Where's Waldo? Searching for the Hidden Variable of Corruption

34 Pages Posted: 1 Aug 2011 Last revised: 21 Aug 2011

See all articles by Jennifer Pan

Jennifer Pan

Stanford University

Chiara Superti

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: 2011

Abstract

The indices of corruption available and used in the literature - government-recorded, perception-based, and experience-based - are all subject to errors in measurement that can lead to biased research results. In this paper, we work to identify the "true" value of corruption hidden by measurement error. We analyze the nature of the measurement errors inherent in frequently used indices of corruption, and we attempt to mitigate the biases that result from these errors to obtain identification and consistent estimators by combining substantive knowledge about corruption with an instrumental variables method for a linear errors-in-variables model.

Keywords: Corruption, Measurement Error

Suggested Citation

Pan, Jennifer and Superti, Chiara, Where's Waldo? Searching for the Hidden Variable of Corruption (2011). APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1903073

Jennifer Pan

Stanford University ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Chiara Superti (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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