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Do Independent Prosecutors Deter Political Corruption? An Empirical Evaluation across Seventy-eight Countries

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  • Anne van Aaken
  • Lars P. Feld
  • Stefan Voigt

Abstract

It is hypothesized that prosecution agencies that are dependent on the executive have less incentives to prosecute crimes committed by government members that in turn increases their incentives to commit such crimes. Here, this hypothesis is put to an empirical test focusing on a particular kind of crime, namely corruption. In order to test it, it was necessary to create an indicator measuring de jure as well as de facto independence of the prosecution agencies. The regressions show that de facto independence of prosecution agencies robustly reduces corruption of officials. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne van Aaken & Lars P. Feld & Stefan Voigt, 2010. "Do Independent Prosecutors Deter Political Corruption? An Empirical Evaluation across Seventy-eight Countries," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 12(1), pages 204-244.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:12:y:2010:i:1:p:204-244
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Li, Li & Lien, Donald & Wu, Yiping & Zhao, Yang, 2017. "Enforcement and Political Power in Anticorruption—Evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 133-147.
    2. Antonio Estache & Renaud Foucart, 2013. "Benchmarking Politicians," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2013-20, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Verónica Michel, 2021. "Institutional Design, Prosecutorial Independence, and Accountability: Lessons from the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)," Laws, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, July.
    4. James E. Alt & David Dreyer Lassen, 2010. "Enforcement and Public Corruption: Evidence from US States," EPRU Working Paper Series 2010-08, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    5. Jerg Gutmann & Stefan Voigt, 2023. "Militant constitutionalism: a promising concept to make constitutional backsliding less likely?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 377-404, June.
    6. Jerg Gutmann & Stefan Voigt, 2019. "The Independence of Prosecutors and Government Accountability," Supreme Court Economic Review, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 1-19.
    7. Voigt, Stefan & Gutmann, Jerg & Feld, Lars P., 2015. "Economic growth and judicial independence, a dozen years on: Cross-country evidence using an updated Set of indicators," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-211.
    8. Nguenda Anya, Saturnin Bertrand & Nzepang, Fabrice, 2022. "The role of the separation of democratic powers on structural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(4).
    9. Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, 2014. "Judges as Fiscal Activists: Can Constitutional Review Shape Public Finance?," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 2, pages 79-104, June.
    10. Jerg Gutmann & Stefan Voigt, 2020. "Judicial independence in the EU: a puzzle," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 83-100, February.
    11. Laarni Escresa & Lucio Picci, 2017. "A New Cross-National Measure of Corruption," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 196-219.
    12. Christmann, Robin, 2018. "Prosecution and Conviction under Hindsight Bias in Adversary Legal Systems," MPRA Paper 84870, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Voigt, Stefan & Gutmann, Jerg, 2015. "On the wrong side of the law – Causes and consequences of a corrupt judiciary," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 156-166.
    14. Máchová Renáta & Volejníková Jolana & Lněnička Martin, 2018. "Impact of E-government Development on the Level of Corruption: Measuring the Effects of Related Indices in Time and Dimensions," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 18(2), pages 99-121, June.
    15. Khalid Sekkat, 2022. "Have you been served, your honor? Yes, thank you, your excellency: the judiciary and political corruption," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 326-353, September.
    16. Tomic, Slobodan & Rauh, William Jonathan, 2023. "How Political Culture Shapes Horizontal Accountability Outcomes: Evidence from 62 Countries," SocArXiv uf3nw, Center for Open Science.

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