Comments by Hyelin Choi, on The Size and Costs of Bribes in Malaysia: An Analysis Based on Convicted Bribe Givers

Hyelin Choi: Currently, most governments try to fight against corruption based on the belief that it deters good governance, efficient resource allocation, and, therefore, economic development. This paper examines factors affecting the size of a bribe by developing a simple framework and testing the hypothesis with data on convicted bribe givers from the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) database. This paper establishes a hypothesis that the amount of bribe would be related to the benefit and cost of the bribe and the probability of being convicted. It is tested with the data on the individual bribe givers who were convicted and sentenced over a five-year period between 2010 and 2014. Using ordinary least squares, the authors find that both the fine and imprisonment avoided through bribing increase the magnitude of the bribe. Also, they show that an increase in the fine for a bribe is positively associated with the size of...