Complex Networks of Corruption
(Presentation at the Economics of Corruption 2010 Workshop, Passau, Germany)
This presentation introduces an argument for theorizing about corruption. In particular, we argue that mathematical models of processes taking place on social networks can provide good insight in the description of incentives that lead to corrupt behavior (when the phenomena of corruption emerges from systemic causes). We propose the implementation of an agent-based simulation model, which aims to emulate the dynamics of corruption. The proposed model sheds some light on potential factors that influence honest human behavior. It takes into account subjective individual factors and the possible effect of environmental variables, captured by a social contact network. We focus on the effects of network transitivity and average path length on corruption.
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