In this paper we try to construct an hypothesis as to why, as data seem to show, countries that adopt more “transparent procurement”, as calculated by the share of tender advertised publicly, are also the ones where corruption is considered more pervasive. We describe an economy where in equilibrium countries more prone to corruption find it optimal to increase transparency more to curb corruption itself. However, as transparency is costly to implement, this will not be enough to bring corruption levels to those of inherently less corrupt societies. We finally suggest alternative ways to reduce corruption in procurement.
[JEL Classification: H57]