for private gain. We study the relationship between discretion and corruption in Italian government procurement auctions …, using a confidential database of firms and procurement officials investigated for corruption by Italian enforcement … associated with corruption only when conducted with fewer than the formally required number of bidders or employing discretionary …

We examine the correlation between gender and bureaucratic corruption using two distinct datasets, one from Italy and a … second from China. In each case, we find that women are far less likely to be investigated for corruption than men. In our … Italian data, female procurement officials are 34 percent less likely than men to be investigated for corruption by …