Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Corruption and Economic Development

Corruption and Economic Development is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 20k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the causes and effects of corruption, focusing on its impact on governance, economic growth, institutions, democracy, and the public sector. The research delves into cross-national studies, bribery, political economy, and regulatory aspects related to corruption.

  • Corruption
  • Governance
  • Economic Growth
  • Institutions
  • Democracy
  • Political Economy
  • Cross-National Study
  • Public Sector
  • Bribery
  • Regulation
Research works
20k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+24%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Corruption and Economic Development

Which countries lead Corruption and Economic Development research?

By volume, the United States and Indonesia publish the most (849 and 375 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 849 works
  2. 2 Indonesia 375 works
  3. 3 China 364 works
  4. 4 Germany 248 works
  5. 5 Nigeria 245 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 239 works
  7. 7 Brazil 213 works
  8. 8 India 191 works
  9. 9 Russia 152 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 129 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 28.3%Indonesia: 12.5%China: 12.1%Germany: 8.2%6 others listed: 38.9%28%largest
United States849 · 28.3%Indonesia375 · 12.5%China364 · 12.1%Germany248 · 8.2%6 others listed1,169 · 38.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Corruption and Economic Development research?

By volume in 2022-now, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy publishes the most Corruption and Economic Development research, followed by Fayetteville State University and Inonu University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 127 works
  2. 2 Fayetteville State UniversityUnited States 73 works
  3. 3 Inonu UniversityTürkiye 25 works
  4. 4 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 23 works
  5. 5 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 17 works
  6. 6 Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia 17 works
  7. 7 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 17 works
  8. 8 Fundação Getulio VargasBrazil 15 works
  9. 9 University of ChicagoUnited States 15 works
  10. 10 Lampung UniversityIndonesia 14 works

Who are the leading researchers in Corruption and Economic Development?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Corruption and Economic Development include Martin McKee, Andrei Shleifer and Michael C. Jensen.

  1. 1 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  2. 2 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  3. 3 Michael C. Jensen United States 203k citations
  4. 4 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  5. 5 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations
  6. 6 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Corruption and Economic Development?

The most cited paper in Corruption and Economic Development is "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation" (Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson, 2001), with 8,584 citations. Next come "Corruption and Growth" (8,502) and "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation: Reply" (6,126).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson · American Economic Review Dec 2001 8,584
2 Corruption and Growth Paolo Mauro · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Aug 1995 8,502
3 The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation: Reply Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson · American Economic Review Open access Oct 2012 6,126
4 The causes of corruption: a cross-national study Daniel S. Treisman · Journal of Public Economics Jun 2000 3,968
5 Corruption Andrei Shleifer, Robert W. Vishny · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Aug 1993 3,846
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Corruption and Economic Development research done?

The largest centres of Corruption and Economic Development research in 2022-now are Hamburg (Germany), Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Fayetteville, Malatya and Hamburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 HamburgGermany 134 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 85 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 81 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 73 works
  5. 5 FayettevilleUnited States 73 works
  6. 6 JakartaIndonesia 61 works
  7. 7 Washington D.C.United States 55 works
  8. 8 New YorkUnited States 46 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 35 works
  10. 10 SurabayaIndonesia 29 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. FayettevilleUS · 72.7 works310×
  2. MalatyaTR · 25.4 works24×
  3. HamburgDE · 134.5 works16×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Corruption and Economic Development than the world average.

See Corruption and Economic Development on the map

Where is the best place to study Corruption and Economic Development?

Among universities, judged by research, Inonu University, Fayetteville State University and University of Johannesburg score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 18.68%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Inonu UniversityStanford UniversityFayetteville State U…University of Johann…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Inonu UniversityTürkiye 72.242.1%29.1×25 -
2Fayetteville State UniversityUnited States 67.119.5%674.7×73 -
3University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 46.014.5%6.0×17 +887.1%
4Stanford UniversityUnited States 43.923.5%1.5×10 +51.3%
5Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 42.83.6%6.7×23 +78.3%
6University of GhanaGhana 42.618.2%7.5×9 +21.8%
7London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 41.021.3%11.1×12 -18.2%
8Australian National UniversityAustralia 40.814.0%5.2×12 +27.3%
9University of GothenburgSweden 40.418.6%4.7×10 -48.2%
10University of SfaxTunisia 39.911.5%7.4×8 +229.3%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Corruption and Economic Development, country by country

Is Corruption and Economic Development research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 24% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Corruption and Economic Development.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Corruption and Economic Development as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.021% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Corruption and Economic Development0.023% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Corruption and Economic Development over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Corruption and Economic Development10.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Corruption and Economic Development. Posts are plain text and can be reported.