Geographic Utility as a Determinant of Corruption: The Shadow on the Map

Local political elites have the capacity to make meaningful improvements in the lives of citizens. Unfortunately, they also have the capacity to undermine policy development and implementation when they collude to use power for personal gain. This chapter advances our understanding of the factors that facilitate the consolidation of corruption within local governments by presenting a theoretical framework that identifies the geostrategic value of territory as a key driver in the establishment of corrupt networks. To empirically assess the relationship between geography and corruption, we construct two indices: a reflexive index that captures citizens’ perceptions of corruption and a formative index that represents the geographic utility of municipalities. Results from hierarchical linear models regressing individual-level reports of corruption on community-level geographic utility support our main hypothesis. Citizens tend to report more local corruption in municipalities with higher geographic utility (as indicated by a municipality’s level of infrastructure, strategic location, mining resources, climatic resources, and forest resources). This relationship holds even after controlling for demographic and state-level differences across municipalities. Our findings contribute to the literature on local corruption by demonstrating the significant role of geographic factors in shaping corruption dynamics at the municipal level.