Fifteen Eighty Four

Americans hear a lot about corruption these days, with prominent figures claiming (and many citizens agreeing) that our governments suffer major waste, fraud, and abuse. Major changes are taking place, based on that justification, that will affect American society and  much of the world.

We do have corruption problems, but not necessarily the ones we hear about. Our new book (Corruption in America: A Fifty-Ring Circus,) reminds us that “the government” includes fifty states and the local jurisdictions they create, and that those states have serious and varying corruption problems. Indeed, much corruption is legal (or not clearly illegal), involving influence trading most see as corrupt. That corruption reflects factors embedded in the states’ histories, political cultures, economic makeup, social composition, and institutions.

Should we worry about the states? Yes: state and local governments spent approximately $4 trillion in 2023, providing, by themselves, or with federal agencies, essential services. The states charter your local governments, define their powers and jurisdictions, and help finance local and regional economic development. If an American encounters a government official today, it is more likely a state or local official than one from a federal agency.

But aren’t states and localities “closer to the people” and more accountable? Not necessarily. States and localities are more likely to be dominated by special interests. Lobbyists spent approximately $1.4 billion there in 2023 (spending at the federal level was $4.2 billion). In New York alone it was $360.5 million. Elections at those levels are often less competitive, with lower voter turnouts. In an age when news media struggle to survive, public knowledge of state and local governments is often spotty. Three thousand local papers have closed over the past two decades; in cities that have lost a local newspaper, government financial management suffers and taxpayers likely get less for their money.

State and local corruption is not just a matter of stolen money. Our data show that states with more corruption experience slower economic growth, greater inequality, worse gerrymandering, lower voter turnouts, and weaker trust in government. More extensive corruption is associated with greater racial disparities in health care and COVID-19 outcomes, and – most tragic of all – with more frequent police killings of Black Americans. Corruption is hardly the only cause of those problems; if it vanishes tomorrow, we would still face major challenges. But those implications should remind us that corruption is not just a matter of individual law-breaking: in states and localities it often enjoys institutional protection, reflects long-standing values and social divisions and perpetuates corrosive distrust.

Reform will depend on our being able to hold officials accountable for their actions. More laws and enforcement, valuable though they can be, cannot solve such deeply embedded problems. Convicting corrupt public officials is difficult and expensive. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial, for example, started after a five-year federal investigation. His first trial ended with a hung jury; he was tried again and found guilty of 18 counts of corruption in 2011, closing one of the most expensive corruption cases in U.S. history. Cost estimates ranged from several million to $30 million.

Corruption will never be brought down to zero. Indeed, we would have no way of knowing if it were, because illegal corruption is usually clandestine and legal corruption is difficult to disentangle from business as usual. But some of the smartest countermeasures might be indirect: limiting, somehow, the growing racial and economic inequalities that leave so many Americans feeling crowded out of the decisions that affect their lives. Reviving local politics and journalism, and making both more competitive and relevant to everyday life, are also essential,  for our data show that where media coverage of government is extensive, higher voter turnouts are linked to reduced corruption. But where coverage is poor, turnout is linked to more corruption. Transparency by itself will not suffice: more data may persuade many that crooks really are in the saddle. But augmenting transparency by enacting, implementing, and publicizing policies that reliably provide visible and broad-based benefits may, over time, persuade citizens that government works, and is on their side.

In a nation of 340 million people, better government requires not just sound administration but also open, competitive politics enjoying citizen trust. By all means we must scrutinize what happens in Washington, but dealing with corruption should begin closer to home.