Journal article

Authors list: Mavisakalyan, Astghik; Otrachshenko, Vladimir; Popova, Olga

Publication year: 2021

Pages: 991-1007

Journal: Journal of Comparative Economics

Volume number: 49

Issue number: 4

ISSN: 0147-5967

eISSN: 1095-7227

Open access status: Hybrid

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2021.04.006

Publisher: Elsevier

Abstract: 
Corruption is pervasive, but we know little about its effects on individual lives. Using individual-level data from 28 post-communist countries, we demonstrate that bribing for public services worsens self-assessed health. We account for endogeneity of bribery and show that bribing for any type of public service, not just for health services, has an adverse impact. We also find that bribery lowers the quality of services received. Moreover, there are potentially high indirect costs of bribery since, as we show, it comes at the expense of cutting food consumption. These findings suggest that corruption is a potentially important source behind the poor health outcomes in many developing countries.

Harvard Citation style: Mavisakalyan, A., Otrachshenko, V. and Popova, O. (2021) Can bribery buy health? Evidence from post-communist countries, Journal of Comparative Economics, 49(4), pp. 991-1007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2021.04.006

APA Citation style: Mavisakalyan, A., Otrachshenko, V., & Popova, O. (2021). Can bribery buy health? Evidence from post-communist countries. Journal of Comparative Economics. 49(4), 991-1007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2021.04.006