Generalizations about African societies being pervasively corrupt are refuted in this innovative paper. Among 25,397 Afrobarometer respondents in 18 countries, 26% report paying a bribe, while 74% do not. Five hypotheses offer explanations: institutional context, inequalities of socio-economic...

We develop an innovative two-step model in which contact with a public service is a necessary but not sufficient condition for paying a bribe. This identifies three groups: those without contact; those having contact but not paying a bribe; and those paying a bribe for a service they have...

To understand the process of bribery we need to integrate measures of individual behaviour and institutional attributes rather than rely exclusively on micro or macro-level measures. Indexes of corruption in national institutions cannot explain how individuals within a country differ in the...

Studies find the poor are more likely to pay bribes than the better off, because of lower status. This paper proposes an alternative explanation: institutions matter. Given a choice between public and private services, the better off exit, but they cannot exit from monopoly services. Heckman...

By contrast with generalisations about corruption being pervasive in Africa, empirical studies show that some citizens pay bribes for public services while others do not. Three theoretical explanations for variations — differences in national context, individual attributes and public services...