| Abstrak/Abstract |
This paper concentrates on informal practices, which refer to transactions occurring outside formal institutions and regulations. Bribery fits this definition as it involves the exchange of money or favors outside legal channels to gain an advantage or influence decisions. We analyze bribery in five sectors (education, judiciary, medical, police, and permit) between 2003 and 2013 using the Global Corruption Barometer survey. Multinomial logistic and logit regressions verify that Middle East and North Africa (MENA) people bribe the authorities more than the rest of the world, while the magnitude depends on the model. The results are robust with fixed effects and propensity score matching regressions. The paper proposes that higher bribing rates in the MENA region can be explained by informal practices such as wasta, hamula, and combina—the channels that undergird transactions. It concludes with policy implications to alleviate the impacts of bribery in the MENA region. |
