This quarter's Paul Heyne Seminar by the Economics Undergraduate Board will feature Fahad Khalil, the Castor Professor of Economics. The topic is "Bribery versus extortion: allowing the lesser of two evils" and “Honest Agents in a Corrupt Equilibrium”.
Topic Summary is as followed.
Corruption is a major concern in many settings. Organizations and Governments strategically design policies to fight the threat of corruption as it interferes with obeying of rules and provision of effective incentives. While we routinely read about bribe and extortionary payments in the popular press, they have distinct impacts on incentives. We show that bribery is the lesser of the two evils. Extortion discourages “good behavior” because the agent suffers from it even though he has done the right thing, whereas a bribe acts as a penalty for “bad behavior.” Thus, a policy maker may well have to tolerate bribery to avoid the threat of extortion. Honest agents refusing to engage in bribery can pose a dilemma and affect efficient allocation of resources. Sporadic measure to improve ‘honesty’ may not be effective, and a ‘big push’ may be required for anti-corruption measures to be successful.
The seminar will be discussing the topic of corruption, and we believe that it will be particularly relevant to students in the Political Science department. We would be grateful if you could help us promote this seminar to Pol S students, either by sharing the information on your department's website, or email list.
The seminar is scheduled to will take place in Smith Hall 102 on Thursday, May 25th from 5:30 - 7:00 PM. We hope that this seminar will provide valuable insights into the economic and political implications of sanctions, and we believe that it will be of great interest to students in both the Economics and Political Science departments. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns at mailto:eub@uw.edu.
Thank you in advance for your assistance, and we look forward to seeing many of Political Science students at the seminar.