Is corruption just a flaw in the system? Is it a way for those in power to maintain power, or does it happen on a much larger scale, in areas we might not think to expect? It’s a worldwide problem. On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, The Walker Institute of International and Area Studies and the Columbia World Affairs Council invited Dr. Chris Yenkey to speak at the February Palmetto Forum. Yenkey earned his PhD in Sociology from Cornell University before he joined Darla Moore School of Business as an Associate Professor in the Sonoco International Business Department at the University of South Carolina. In addition, he also serves as a core faculty member of USC’s Rule of Law Collaborative, and an affiliate faculty member of the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies. 

One of the world’s most persistent social and economic maladies, despite being widely reviled, is corruption. Anti-corruption sentiment is everywhere, but effective solutions are elusive. Professor Yenkey drew on his research and teaching on corruption to discuss this complex problem, focusing on how attitudes and beliefs in the general public can contribute to pervasive corruption even as the same public suffers from its effects. In true academic fashion, this talk will probably leave you with more questions than answers. Yenkey shared how he used innovative field experiments to capture the micro-foundations of public support for corruption. He worked with a range of public and private sector organizations to identify and test new interventions that help members of the public decline self-interested benefits available through occasional collusion with public officials. 

"To begin the forum, Dr. Yenkey posed the question: 'Is corruption driven by powerful elites, or does the public play a role?' The majority of the audience believed that corruption is primarily driven by powerful elites. However, Dr. Yenkey explained that the public also plays a role, citing the example of the TD Bank employee who helped launder money back in 2024. Leading into this topic, the audience got to understand the experiment conducted by Professor Yenkey in Kenya, where bribery is common. He described the difference between collusion, a deal that benefits both the citizen and corrupt official, and extortion, which only helps the official. He used many examples to help the audience understand the difference between the two, such as when a mother missed a deadline to register her child for school and needed help from the clerk, compared to when a mother applied on time but the clerk chose to delay the process. 

According to Dr. Yenkey and his findings from his research, 'collusive bribes are rated the most harmful to public institutions and the most unethical' (Yenkey, 2024).