Incentives and Norms in Anticorruption Reform
This paper examines corruption in the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS). Corruption is framed as an exchange problem between a public official and the state. New Institutional Economics suggests such problems can be overcome using formal and informal institutional structures (e.g. laws and norms). Behavioural economics emphasises that norms may render formal rules less effective. The role of norms in fostering corruption and the constraints on the effectiveness of formal institutions in general and in the ACBPS in particular highlights the importance of addressing the role of norms in anticorruption reform. Current and proposed ACBPS reforms emphasising formal structural incentives need to more explicitly consider and outline the intended effect of reforms upon norms, and/or the expected relationship between the new formal institutional structures and the norms of the organisation.