The economics of corruption and the corruption of economics: an institutionalist perspective

Corruption is now a popular topic in the social sciences. This expansion of interest is evident in economics and elsewhere, where a large number of articles on this theme have been published in leading journals. Some organizations publish indicative data on corruption. For example, Transparency International publishes a widely cited 'Corruption Perceptions Index' for most countries, and these data are frequently used in statistical analyses of economic performance.