ABSTRACT
Corruption has been associated with very different economic effects across Asian countries. This chapter argues that the distribution of political power is revealed in differences in the structure of patron-client networks across countries and these can be important for explaining the differential effects of corruption. It examines the patron-client networks linking states and competing groups of clients in the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia, Thailand, and South Korea, and investigates the ways in which the structure of these networks can determine the economic effects associated with corruption in those countries. Economists have typically examined the economic incentives promoting corruption while leaving to political scientists the task of analysing its political roots. The chapter also argues that the forms of economic corruption and their effects are closely tied to the forms of political corruption. This approach raises fundamental dilemmas for policy approaches to corruption.
