2013/01/23 by Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Daniel Zizumbo-Colunga · 148 citations
Social Sciences · #Context (archaeology) #Corruption and Economic Development #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Econometrics #Economics #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Language change #Law #Ordinary least squares #Political corruption #Political science #Politics #Presidential system #Public economics #Test (biology) #Toll
paper · doi:10.1177/0010414012472468
published in Comparative Political Studies 46(10), 1190-1218 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2013/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Under what conditions do citizens connect concerns about corruption to their evaluations of sitting executives? In contrast to conventional scholarship positing a direct, negative relationship between corruption and political support, we build on a small but suggestive body of research to argue that this relationship is conditional on economic context. We test this claim with national survey data collected in 19 presidential systems as part of the AmericasBarometer 2010 study. Using both fixed effects ordinary least squares and hierarchical linear regression analyses, we show that individuals facing bad (good) collective economic conditions apply a higher (lower) penalty to presidential approval for perceived political corruption. This result holds across both an individual-level indicator of national economic assessment and a regional economic measure; we further test, and find less substantial results for, the moderating influence of personal economic conditions on the political toll of corruption perceptions.