The Effectiveness of State Ethics Commissions on Curbing Corruption and the Effect of Corruption on State Economic Performance
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies implemented across the United States that significantly reduce public sector corruption. In addition to the normative desire to combat corruption, it documents, the economic impact that corruption has on each state's per capita gross domestic product. To investigate public sector corruption articles between the years 2010 – 2015were reviewed for news stories that report on public sector corruption at the state level and below. The practical implications of this dissertation, if incorporated into a state level anti-corruption policy, could be used to reduce public sector corruption and increase that states' economic health. Although other research has examined economic growth and public sector corruption at the international level, this dissertation applies the same principles of the anti-corruption literature to an intra-national level by examining the effectiveness of state policy to reduce public sector corruption, and the effects of corruption within each state.