Corruption demoralizes government and weakens the whole endeavour of policy formulation and its implementation. It diminishes services and causes fiscal stress, but most of all it undermines trust and corrodes legitimate community expectations. Corruption takes many forms and is found in many contexts. This paper develops a framework for the analysis of corruption which identifies types, activities, sectors and places (TASP). With the TASP framework identified or suspected corruption in any setting can be analysed as a precursor to the controls and processes that are most appropriate for the control and modification of corrupt behaviour, which ideally can enhance public sector performance. The TASP framework assists in pinpointing the nature, location and context of public sector corruption, and illustrates more precisely where the risks of corrupt activity might arise. . This paper demonstrates , with empirical work from New York City and the State of Victoria in Australia (Australia's second most populous state), that more precise classification and characterisation of the nature and types of corrupt activity is an essential precondition to the development and design of targeted anti-corruption measures.

Corruption is a significant financial crime which is estimated by the World Economic Forum to cost about 5% of global GDP or $2.6 trillion dollars. Explanations of corruption, like explanations of crime, tend to focus on the individuals who commit corruption and the wider conditions which give rise to corrupt behaviour. Approaches designed to reduce corruption usually propose stiffer sanctions, institutional reforms and the passing of new laws. This paper outlines a complementary perspective with which to consider corruption. Grounded in situational crime prevention and related criminological theory, it argues that opportunities in the immediate environment play a causal role in generating corruption. It proposes that corruption can be minimised by removing or reducing opportunities which are conducive to corrupt behaviour. Five cases are chosen as illustrative examples of how situational crime prevention might usefully be applied to corruption, focussing on the Type, Activities, Sectors and Places (TASP) that comprise corruption events. We finish by developing a framework for the empirical study of corruption in local settings.

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When individuals exchange gifts social bonds are strengthened and reciprocity is created. If the gift and the reciprocation both come from private resources it is clearly a gift. If what is reciprocated after a gift is given comes from an organization, or is a government resource rather than from "one's own pocket" then it is most likely a bribe. The key variable is not the value of the gift but the transparency of the transaction. What has occurred is the trading of entrusted authority. This is corruption, and a serious danger to public policy.This study reviews anthropological literature on gift giving, and constructs a typology for the examining the gift/ bribe distinction in public administration. This classification helps to distinguish analytically among different types of gift practice and clarify conceptual ambiguity of the terms gift and bribe.

Corruption manifests itself in many ways