Exposing corruption: An empirical analysis of the role of mass media on corruption

• Main Authors: Bajo, Grace Ann Q., Bonifacio, Alyssa Bianca D., Jin Myeong, Kim, Posadas, Rhealyn V.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/11919
• Institution: De La Salle University

Corruption, labeled by the World Bank as the new archenemy of development, prompted various anti-corruption campaigns that enabled citizens to demand for accountability and transparency among government officials. Awareness, through the form of information given by the media, may affect people's perception on various economic concerns. With this, we identified intermediary social factors to effectively distinguish the causal mechanism between corruption and mass media. Through the use of the two-stage least square (2SLS) method, this paper selects the best instrumental variable to support that higher level of information penetration would spur awareness and consciousness among the society. In our results, we find that the heightened presence of media does imply a large effect on reducing corruption prevalence however, its impact is mostly prevalent in the short run. Nevertheless, the increasing interaction of the people with mass media instruments corroborates the reduction of information asymmetry between the people and the government since the increase in interaction poses a disincentive on officials to engage in fraudulent activities.