Fighting Corruption Requires Measuring Corruption

CIPE is launching a Corruption Measurement 101 webinar series with global experts who are shaping how we track and gauge corruption. CIPE Senior Global Advisor for Anti-Corruption Johannes Tonn shares insights and a preview.

Corruption measurement matters: in the private sector, for government programs, and in civil society. To advance the fight against corruption, advocates need to know what type of corruption they are up against, what aspects of corruption have the greatest impact, and the extent of the problem. Failing to consider these factors makes it harder to know if anti-corruption efforts lower corruption. Understanding them also helps when adjusting programming to make it more effective.

Evaluating Past Progress

Highlighting the importance of measurement is not new. Anti-corruption advocates have made useful progress over the past thirty years creating and improving indicators and methodologies. They build on each other’s work to enhance the robustness and specificity of different measures.

However, while aggregate measures of corruption used in the past may have had utility for broad-based advocacy efforts, these measures are limited in their ability to inform targeted action for a specific set of stakeholders. Alison Taylor, Clinical Associate Professor at NYU Stern and author of Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World, pointed out recently that while there is much praise for the growth and qualitative evolution of compliance programs in the corporate world, we don’t know whether these programs lead to the desired impact.

In government, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) set out a number of important anti-corruption priorities in its 2022 Anti-Corruption Policy. Regarding measuring its progress toward these priorities, USAID states, “As a learning organization, USAID will build opportunities to pause, reflect on, and adapt the approaches.” This is where robust and targeted corruption measurement indicators are critical to evaluate the difference that anti-corruption policies and initiatives can make.

Measurement Starts With Specifics

What has always been needed, then and now, is a clear-eyed assessment of the locus and focus of anti-corruption strategies, and corresponding measurement efforts to assess their effectiveness. There has been a flurry of recent, promising activity to develop and enhance corruption measurement at the international level, across academia and among practitioners.

• In 2023, the United Nations Conference of State Parties adopted a resolution focused on measuring the effectiveness of country-based anti-corruption frameworks. The resolution builds on the Vienna Principles for the Measurement of Corruption and the Statistical Framework to Measure Corruption. 
  

• The OECD introduced three of its six Public Integrity Indicators, a collection of primary data on anti-corruption performance in countries. Pilot programs will use the data to further guide anti-corruption strategies.
  

• CIPE, in collaboration with Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, who leads the European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building, developed the Corruption Risk Forecast. The forecast is an interactive corruption analysis tool built on public data and provides private- and public-sector decision-makers with an accessible model of corruption risk. 
  

• Joseph Pozsgai, Specially Appointed Associate Professor at Osaka University in Japan, hosts a monthly virtual roundtable that brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss corruption measures in elaborate detail. The schedule and previously recorded roundtables can be found here.  
  

• The Global Programme on Measuring Corruption is part of the International Anti-Corruption Academy. It explored several exciting areas for measurement on specific topics and in different contexts, including by highlighting gaps and setting out future directions. The program was then led by Professor Liz David-Barrett, of the University of Sussex, from October 2022 to May 2023. 

The landscape of corruption and anti-corruption measurement is important for all anti-corruption advocates and evolves rapidly. There is therefore value in summarizing what we have learned, revisiting the foundational questions at the core of the measurement debate, exploring the tradeoffs between different approaches, and thinking out loud about the future of measurement.  

Continuing the Conversation

CIPE is pleased to offer an opportunity to do precisely that in an upcoming three-part discussion with three eminent anti-corruption experts. Professor Paul Heywood, Sir Francis Hill Chair of European Politics at the University of Nottingham and Director of the Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI ACE) at University of Sussex; Professor Liz David-Barrett, Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex; along with George Mason University Affiliate Faculty Stephanie Trapnell, will share their long-standing expertise, experience, and insights. Each has contributed to shaping the measurement debate over the past three decades. 

Join us on November 7 for the first session, in which Heywood will discuss why corruption measurement matters and how to go about it. On November 14, Trapnell will explore approaches and trade-offs when deciding between different types of measurement. On November 21, David-Barrett will take stock and share thoughts about where the measurement debate is headed next. 

All sessions start at 8:30 am Eastern Time (1:30 pm GMT & 8:30 pm WIB). Sign up here and email CIPE’s Anti-Corruption & Governance Center at acgc@cipe.org with any questions.