ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents the principal theoretical and explanatory elements relating to corruption in the literature on the political economy of developing countries, and an overview of current research on the subject. She then discusses a number of salient empirical factors to allow a comparison between sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia. The goal is to understand African corruption as more visible but less efficient from an economic point of view—as well as from the standpoint of corruption itself—compared to corruption in East Asia, which is perhaps even more extensive but has not prevented an economic "miracle" from taking place. Corruption, with its wide variations between countries, is not more serious or widespread in sub-Saharan Africa than in Asia. It responds to contents, rationalities, and political, economic, and institutional contexts generating different time frames. These have complemented productive economic processes in Asia much more than in Africa.
