Romain Ferrali

Thematic seminars
big data and econometrics seminar

Romain Ferrali

AMSE
How to reduce bureaucratic corruption? Unpacking Brazilian anti-corruption audits
Joint with
Galileu Kim, Julieta Peveri
Venue

IBD Salle 21

Îlot Bernard du Bois - Salle 21

AMU - AMSE
5-9 boulevard Maurice Bourdet
13001 Marseille

Date(s)
Tuesday, June 21 2022| 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Contact(s)

Michel Lubrano: michel.lubrano[at]univ-amu.fr
Pierre Michel: pierre.michel[at]univ-amu.fr

Abstract

Under which conditions do anti-corruption policies effectively reduce bureaucratic corruption? Previous studies find that anti-corruption audits are effective in disciplining politicians, but their impact on bureaucrats is unclear. We leverage 10 years of randomized audits and the careers of 275 thousand Brazilian municipal officials. We find that audits lead to increased risks of dismissals and slower career progression. We further show that dismissals tend to target more non-tenured, less educated bureaucrats, suggesting that the program does not necessarily punish the most corrupt bureaucrats, but instead the ones that are easiest to punish.