Citizen and Politician Surveys on Corruption in Italy, Brazil, Colombia and Pakistan

We elicit respondents' views about corruption and we explore the trade-offs they think politicians should and would make between efficiency and corruption and between equity and corruption. Using a randomized experiment, we study the respondents' willingness to waste money and/or engage in a trivial lie to obtain an ego-rent.

We collect a representative citizen sample along the gender, income, and age dimensions in Italy, Brazil, and Pakistan.
The survey will also be sent to all first-level subdivision politicians of these three countries and to all national legislators.

2021-10-25

2022-03-01

We are interested in i) perceptions about corruption in the respondent's own country across the political spectrum; ii) trade-offs between efficiency and corruption; iii) trade-offs between equity and corruption; iv) willingness to waste money for ego-gratification; v) willingness to lie for ego-gratification; vi) whether respondents who are willing to lie are also more tolerant of corruption.

All these outcomes will be collected both for citizens and politicians of the three countries surveyed.

We will randomize the information provided to the respondents about the cost of producing a certificate reporting their donation to a charity of their choice.

The control group will be informed that the production cost of €60 will be covered by the researchers; therefore their donation will be €1,000 and this is what the certificate will state.

Treatment group 1 will be informed that if they ask for the certificate, the production cost of €60 will be covered using part of the donation money. Therefore their donation will be €940 and this is what the certificate will state.

Treatment group 2 will be informed that if they ask for the certificate, the production cost of €60 will be covered using part of the donation money. Therefore their donation will be €940 but the certificate will state that they donated €1,000.

We also randomize the questions' order. The order randomization will divide respondents in two groups.
Respondents assigned to Order 1 will first answer to the vignette questions eliciting trade-offs between equity/efficiency and corruption, then to the questions on redistribution policy preferences, then to the questions on corruption, and finally to the questions on trust.
Respondents assigned to Order 2 will start with the question on trust, then the vignettes, then the questions on redistribution policy preferences, and finally the questions on corruption.

Not available

Randomization done by a computer

Individual

No

0

1,000 citizens in Italy contacted online 1,000 citizens in Brazil contacted online 500 citizens in Pakistan contacted online 1,000 citizens in Pakistan contacted in person The survey will be sent to 917 regional politicians in Italy, 1001 state-level politicians in Brazil, and 676 provincial-level politicians in Pakistan. The final number of politicians surveyed will depend on their response rates. A second round of surveying will solicit all national legislators in the lower house in Brazil (513), Pakistan (342), and Italy (630). The final number of politicians surveyed will depend on their response rates.

Italian sample:
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 1
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 1
166 citizens assigned to the control group, order 1
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 2
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 2
166 citizens assigned to the control group, order 2

Brazilian sample:
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 1
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 1
166 citizens assigned to the control group, order 1
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 2
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 2
166 citizens assigned to the control group, order 2

Pakistan online sample:
83 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 1
83 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 1
84 citizens assigned to the control group, order 1
83 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 2
83 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 2
84 citizens assigned to the control group, order 2

Pakistan in person sample:
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 1
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 1
166 citizens assigned to the control group, order 1
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 1, order 2
167 citizens assigned to Treatment 2, order 2
166 citizens assigned to the control group, order 2

Politicians sample (for all countries):
1/6 of politicians assigned to Treatment 1, order 1
1/6 of politicians assigned to Treatment 2, order 1
1/6 of politicians assigned to the control group, order 1
1/6 of politicians assigned to Treatment 1, order 2
1/6 of politicians assigned to Treatment 2, order 2
1/6 of politicians assigned to the control group, order 2