Causes of corruption

Sammanfattning: This thesis consists of an introductory chapter and four essays. Although possible to read individually they all analyse the causes of corruption and hence complement each other.The four essays collectively illustrate the complex nature of corruption. Often many interrelated factors work together in causing corruption. Hence, discovering how these factors, individually and together, cause corruption is vital in combating corruption.The first essay helps to explain the path dependency of corruption. It shows that even if the legal system and enforcement level in a corrupt country or organisation is altered to become identical to that in a non corrupt, the level of corruption may not converge.The second essay analyses how the decision making structure influences corruption. It is found that even though the profits of corruption may be monotonically related to changes in the organisational structure the incidence of corruption is not necessarily so.The third essay looks on how corruption may spread between different organisations or countries as they interact with each other, with corrupt/non corrupt behaviour being more likely to be transmitted from successful to nonsuccessful entities than vice versa.The fourth and final essay investigates how the freedom of information can impact on corruption. Looking on both regulatory and technical constraints on information flows, the conclusion is that relaxation of both constraints simultaneously is needed to combat corruption.