The fight against corruption and its implications for development in developing and transition economies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to survey current academic and policy debates on combating corruption and the implications of the various international initiatives on social and economic development in both developing and transition economies. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews a range of published articles (1967‐2005), which provide theoretical and practical research on corruption and development. Themes discussed ranged from: conceptualization of corruption, causes of corruption, effects of corruption, perception and measurement of corruption, aid and corruption, and international efforts at combating corruption. Findings – Provides information on each author's perspectives on corruption, aid and development. The paper generally concedes the wastefulness of corruption. Corruption directly impedes progress towards the common poverty reduction objectives of both donor agencies and aid recipient countries. Practical implications – A very useful source of information drawing on thoroughly researched papers on corruption and the efforts at ridding society off its effects. The paper provides an impartial motivation to policy makers in re‐examining existing international tools for combating corruption in developing and transition economies. Originality/value – The paper fulfils an identified need to digress from the neo‐liberal approach to corruption and adopt a more nuanced and institutional‐based reviews of the concept of corruption and consequently efforts (by both governmental and non‐governmental international organizations) at combating it. While the paper recognizes that corruption wastes and misallocates resources from the most socially useful projects towards those that are beneficial to bribers and corrupt public officials, it nonetheless asserts that the misguided approaches to corruption only creates more bottlenecks that stifles development in the developing and transition economies.