2020-10-12
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and corruption in Latin America
Publication
Publication
Evidence from Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), launched in 2002, has been promoted as an international
anti-corruption tool. Several empirical evaluations on the effectiveness of the EITI scheme provide average
estimates based on cross-country analysis. However, little empirical work has been conducted on individual case
studies, especially in the context of Latin America. Our study uses a Synthetic Control Methodology (SCM) to
measure the EITI’s impact on several measures of corruption in the first five Latin American countries to join the
initiative: Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The method allows us to assess the
magnitude and statistical significance of the EITI’s effect on perceived corruption at each stage of implementation.
Our results cast doubt on how decisive the scheme has been in combatting corruption. In the vast
majority of cases, participation in the scheme either had no statistically significant effect or even coincided with
marginally increased corruption levels (only in very few cases it was associated with temporary minor improvements).
Taken together, the results indicate that joining EITI did not lead to a substantial decrease of
corruption in any of the countries under scrutiny.
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doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101907, hdl.handle.net/1765/133382 | |
Resources Policy | |
Organisation | International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University (ISS) |
López Cazar, I.M, Papyrakis, E, & Pellegrini, L. (2020). The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and corruption in Latin America. Resources Policy. doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101907
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