HOW DOES EDUCATION INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS PERCEPTION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF CORRUPTION? A quantitative study including 21 European countries

Abstract

Do individuals with different levels of education perceive different types of corruption differently? Evidence from previous research suggest that education plays an important role in the fight against corruption. Countries with higher levels of education on average experience lower levels of corruption. However, how does education influence individual’s corruption perception? Specifically, different types of corruption. This paper uses the distinctions “need” and “greed” corruption. I suggest that individuals with lower levels of education perceive higher levels of need corruption because of lack of resources, shorter time horizons and lack of knowledge. I also suggest that individuals with higher levels of education perceive higher levels of greed corruption. This is because education has shown to increase cognitive ability, political efficacy, knowledge and longer time horizons. Greed corruptions consequences have longer time horizons compared to the consequences of need corruptions, which should explain some of the differences in corruption perception. Using survey data from the European Quality of Government database, I show that individuals with different levels of education differ in their perception of both need and greed corruption. The results of the quantitative study show that individuals with lower levels of education perceive more need corruption. The results also shows that individuals with lower levels of education perceive more greed corruption.