Public Corruption: A Study across Regions in Italy

This work explores the determinants of public corruption using a regional panel dataset on crimes perpe-trated in Italy by public officials against the public administration in combination with a set of demographicand socio-economic variables. The results suggest that both the size and the composition of public spend-ing at the local level explain corruption. We also find that regions where social capital is higher are morelikely to face a lower incidence of corruption crimes. Moreover, regions which have historically placed lessimportance on rooting out corruption may be stuck in a vicious circle of higher levels of corruption.