Application to Economic Development

In Chapter 5, we return to the important motivation for the entire monograph. Much of the debate over corruption reform in developing countries has been about failure stories. Our analytical narrative focuses instead upon an enormous success in corruption reform, and lessons to be drawn from it. But this example occurred years ago and far away, in both distance and potentially in economic and cultural conditions, from contemporary developing economies. We do not intend to suggest that Parker’s specific reforms as such should be the guide for current corruption reform efforts. Parker’s specific policies were applicable to and successful for Los Angeles in the 1950s. What we do believe is that the conditions that we identified in Chapter 4 that supported Parker’s efforts can be generalized across time and circumstances. Thus, we examine the importance of political contestability, a free media, and a focal system of values in the context of the current debate over corruption reform in developing countries. We close with an application to the novel “Charter Cities” movement.