Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Organization, Meaning & Choices: An 360º Overview to Corruption Practices in the Mexican Public Sector

(Sustainable Government)

Along many other countries, corruption is topping the list of problems in México’s policy agenda. Associated to financial risks and incapacitation of governments to address other acute issues, the SDG 16 in the UN 2030 Agenda explicitly includes corruption as a condition to eradicate. Despite the efforts being implemented, the curtailing power of these and other national strategies are at risk if we keep neglecting a wider vision of the causes mostly engrained in how an organization shapes individual and collective behavior. 

The aim of this panel is to make a comeback into specific features affecting the way we understand corruption. We begin with an organizational view of the problem looking at how the formal rules serve as broad frameworks from which to negotiate, bargain or collude. A zoom-in into the problem follows along the lines of three subsequent studies. An empirical study of palancas (leverages) seen as social and useful mechanism to pursue objectives sometimes at the expense of breaking the law. An experimental study around narratives and how these alter the perception and willingness of public officials to incur in misconduct practices. A survey-based study to understand organizational and individual features influencing people’s perception around the notion of conflict of interests. We finalize with a study around the effects of corruption in the financial sustainability of state-level governments.