Does corruption follow opportunity? a study of the US Congress

Rodrigo Praino, Adam Graycar

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    8 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Ninety three of the 1,818 people who served in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1972 and 2012 were investigated for corruption by the Ethics Committee. Eighteen were acquitted and 75 suffered consequences (reprimand/payback/resignation/conviction). Detailed analysis of the data shows that the longer one is in Congress, the more likely is the chance of corruption. In addition, the more powerful one is in Congress, the more likely is the chance of corruption. This article concludes that corruption follows opportunity. In general, the more opportunity members of Congress have to engage in corruption, the more they will ultimately succumb to corruption.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)478-496
    Number of pages19
    JournalPublic Integrity
    Volume20
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 3 Sept 2018
    EventAmerican Politics Group Annual Meeting, Oxford University, United Kingdom -
    Duration: 1 Jan 2018 → …

    Keywords

    • corruption
    • ethics investigations
    • opportunity
    • US. Congress

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