Believe it or not, systemic corruption is often a sign that a country is actually succeeding and getting richer, not failing.
March 25, 2026
Original Paper
<p><a rel="nofollow"></a>Corruption and Endogenous Decline</p>Discretion, Impunity, and Systemic Corruption under Moralized Redistribution
SSRN · 6339079
The Takeaway
Common wisdom treats corruption as a symptom of a weak state or bad culture, but this analysis suggests it can be 'endogenous'—emerging naturally from the prosperity it follows. As institutions grow successful, the increase in discretionary authority and the expansion of redistribution create opportunistic pressures that eventually overwhelm existing containment mechanisms.
From the abstract
Corruption is commonly treated as a primary cause of institutional decay or as a pathology rooted in cultural deficiency, moral failure, or weak state capacity. This paper advances a different claim. Under conditions of sustained prosperity and security, systemic corruption can emerge endogenously from the same structural transformations that initially accompanied success. Corruption is reconstructed not as an exogenous shock but as the activation of structurally persistent opportunistic pressur