Tuesday, 5th June 2018
12:30 - 13:30
CESS Seminar Rooms - 3 George Street Mews
Corruption and Self-selection in the Ghanaian Tax System
Cheating and corrupt behaviour are serious challenges for the civil services of many developing countries. However, many bureaucracies do not have a large tool kit to manage the problem. Incentives tend to be flat; monitoring is infrequent; and punishments may not be credible. We suggest that by restructuring contracts bureaucracies may be able to induce self-selection into job roles that maximise productivity while reducing incentives to cheat. Economic experimental games can suggest mechanisms for the restructuring of such contracts. This project aims to test the relevance and validity of a set of experimental games and to use insights from these games to design optimal contracts for civil servants in the Ghanaian tax authority.