In this paper the analytical framework outlined by James Buchanan and Yong J. Yoon (2000) to explore the symmetric "tragedies of the commons and the anti-commons" is generalized to deal with the study of the relationship between institutions and corruption. A simple game theory model is built to show that corruption produces a "tragedy of the anti-commons" and that it can be discouraged by the introduction of competition among corrupt agents to turn it into a "tragedy of the commons." It is also shown that coordinated corruption or "mafia" behaviour produces a better allocation of resources than uncoordinated coruption and that punishment of corruption based on earnings collected from bribes produces a better allocation of resources than sanctions based on the number of corrupt acts committed.
A commonly used approach to measure the size of the shadow economy, known as "the monetary method", is based on econometric estimates of the demand for currency. These estimates are used to get the currency held by economic agents in excess of the amount they need to finance registered transactions. This excess of currency multiplied by the income-velocity of circulation (assumed to be equal in the registered and shadow economies) gives a measure of the hidden GDP. This paper shows that the monetary method only produces coherent estimates if the income-elasticity of the demand for currency is one and suggests a way to correct the estimated size of the shadow economy when such elasticity is not one. The correction is applied to existent measures for different countries.
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