Cost-effective means to fight corruption

Radio campaigns that emphasize economic costs of corruption can decrease voting for vote-buying parties

A recent study in India showed that an anti-corruption radio campaign decreased the vote share of parties that engaged in vote-buying by 6-10 percentage points. Rather than making a moral appeal against vote-buying, the radio campaign emphasized how candidates who buy votes are likely to recoup the costs of vote-buying by stealing public money once in office, instead of using that money for public services like schools and electricity. The total cost of the radio campaign (including producing and airing the ads on 30 radio stations) was $23,000; the campaign persuaded 130 voters per dollar spent to vote for parties that didn’t engage in vote-buying. This study shows that radio messages can be a low-cost, safe, and effective means to deflect electoral support away from parties that buy votes. (full-text)

Media and SMS interventions can encourage corruption reporting

A 2019 study in Nigeria tested the effects of a campaign that encouraged citizens to report corruption by text message. The campaign (1) showed a film featuring actors reporting corruption and (2) sent a mass text message that reduced the effort required to report corruption. The campaign sought to reduce two major barriers to adopting new actions: the perception that no one else will join (a problem of social norms) and minor logistical or technical barriers (a problem of personal and structural capacity). The campaign elicited 241 concrete corruption reports from 106 small southern Nigerian communities, 1.7 times more concrete corruption reports than 1 year of the previous nationwide corruption-reporting campaign. This study shows that a low-cost media and communication intervention can induce corruption reporting.

Do you have a study we should share for a future Facty Friday? Send an email to drg.el@usaid.gov!