Apex Corruption Erodes Democratic Values

We complement a field experiment with cross-country evidence to show that exposure to apex corruption— corrupt acts implicating top-level politicians—causes large decreases in democratic values and associated behaviors. Behaviors such as individual voter turnout, contributions to support elections, and honesty and trust in incentivized games all fall. The effects on voting are greatest for incumbents perceived to be honest when apex corruption is exposed close to elections. We show, both experimentally and across scandals in 17 national settings, that apex corruption also reduces explicit support for democracy in favor of authoritarianism. We test two restorative solutions. Join us on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET.

Speaker:
Enrique Seira
Joe and Deborah Loughrey Professor of Economics
Kellogg Institute Faculty Fellow

For more information and to watch the livestream, please visit the event website.