A Big Push to Deter Corruption: Evidence from Italy

Abstract

During the first half of the 1990s a pool of Italian judges carried out an investigation, named Mani Pulite (literally clean hands), that led many public officials to be prosecuted and convicted because of bribery and embezzlement. The impact of Mani Pulite was so much influential that since then many indicators suggest a steadily decreasing path for corruption in Italy. This paper shows that Mani Pulite was mainly effective in deterring corruption as it broke up the feed due to spending in health and social security as well as infrastructure investments, mainly those related to public buildings, sanitation, and land reclamation.Corruption, Public Investment, Deterrence