DFG Project: Between Responsibility and Reciprocity - Contributions of Experimental Corruption Research

How can corrupt behaviour be reduced? Using a novel experimental design, Prof Johann Graf Lambsdorff, Dr Katharina Werner and Dr Kevin Grubiak investigate the influence of reciprocal relationships and intrinsic motivation in order to identify effective measures for combating corruption.

Despite much research on anti-corruption, there are few clear findings suggesting effective action. One reason is that anti-corruption efforts focus primarily on deterrence, punishment and control. This overlooks the fact that public officials and business people form reciprocal relationships and, in some cases, have intrinsic motivation to act responsibly and honestly. A comprehensive, behavioural approach must therefore identify measures that, in addition to deterrence, simultaneously strengthen intrinsic motivation to be responsible and curb reciprocity.

For this project, a novel experimental design is used to study human behavior in the laboratory. Four prominent anti-corruption measures will be tested for their effects: Punishing the granting of advantages, accepting advantages, abuse of office, and nullifying the basic contract.

The added value of the project relative to existing research is that the potentially corrupt relationship is modeled realistically as a gray area between extortion, bribery, and abuse of office. A public official's intrinsic propensity to act responsibly and propensity to reciprocity are prominent in the design. Thus, the project goes far beyond the current state of research and enables the identification of effective anti-corruption measures.

Principal Investigator(s) at the University	Prof. Dr. Johann Graf Lambsdorff (Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre mit Schwerpunkt Wirtschaftstheorie)
Project period	01.01.2021 - 31.12.2023
Source of funding	DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft > DFG - Sachbeihilfe
Projektnummer	GZ:LA1846/7-1AOBJ:670266
Themenfelder	Wirtschaftstheorie