Marginalization or risk aversion? Using big data to examine why women are found to be less corrupt in court judgments

Abstract

Previous studies have argued that women are less corrupt because they are marginalized or because they are risk averse. However, because of the insidious and hidden nature of corruption, the subjects of theoretical reasoning in previous studies were individuals who were not involved in corruption. This produces a lack of observations and analyses of individuals who are actually corrupt. For this reason, the present study used text mining of Taiwanese district court judgments to examine why women are less corrupt. The results reveal that, following the rise of gender equality in Taiwanese society, women are now less marginalized and are as likely as to be as corrupt as men. Furthermore, the level of corruption (reflected by the prosecution and conviction rates) among women who are less marginalized (elected civil servants) is higher than among those who are more marginalized (typical civil servants). These findings suggest that women are less corrupt because they are marginalized rather than because they are risk averse.