Jordan Gans-Morse, Mariana Borges, Alexey Makarin, Theresa Mannah Blankson, Andre Nickow, and Dong Zhang
Drawing from economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology, Gans-Morse and his colleagues provide the first-known, comprehensive review of 260 studies analyzing seven types of anticorruption policies, particularly those focusing on reducing bureaucratic corruption. The authors demonstrate that adequate salaries for civil servants are necessary, but insufficient, to address corruption and that electronic monitoring and audits are effective in combating it. They find little evidence that other common anticorruption methods work. Despite a large number of "unresolved questions," the researchers note the remarkable amount of growth in empirical research in the area, and their review catalogues many opportunities for future research. The research has been published in World Development.