The Rotten Mango: The Effect of Corruption on International Development Projects

This literature provided a basis for SD model building. Additional experiences in Indonesia maintained model realism. One SD corruption overview is based on the oft cited idea that 'amount of corruption' is part of reinforcing loops linked to 'amount of bureaucratic red tape.' In this view, corruption is imbedded in positive feedback loops also linking it to lowered economic openness, a weak legal system, and excessive economic rents available. Stabilizing influences are provided by negative feedback loops in which increasing corruption provides pressures to improve the legal system and causes, through mismanagement, decreased economic rents. Other more detailed SD views include factors that affect the likelihood that a bribe is paid and the psycho-social aspects of corruption within the work environment. Taken together these indicate that SD modeling has considerable potential for elucidating corrupt systems and cures.