1. Susan Rose-Ackerman on the principal-agent theory of corruption

The discussion between Matthew and Susan touches on how Susan got interested in corruption – by experiences made within the US -, how her scope of interest has expanded, and why her seminal book was not an immediate success. Susan points to the experimental field work by Benjamin Olken and the creative approach to measuring corruption by Ray Fisman. Susan and Matthew discuss the differences between the Principal Agent Theory of corruption and the prominent critique arguing that corruption is rather a collective action problem (see episode Episode 5 of KickBack, https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/5-episode-bo-rothstein). Picks of the podcast: The picks by Susan are: - the theoretical work on public choice by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. - George Washington Plunkitt a Tammany Hall political boss in New York City and his famous speech from 1905 on honest and dishonest graft. - The work by John Gardiner on Town X