The Epidemics of Corruption

Abstract

We study corruption as a generalized epidemic process on the graph of social relationships. The main difference to classical epidemic processes is the strong nonlinear dependence of the transmission probability on the local density of corruption and the mean field influence of the overall corruption in the society. Network clustering and the degree-degree correlation play an essential role in corruption dynamics. We discuss phase transitions, the influence of the graph structure and the implications for epidemic control. Structural and dynamical arguments are given why strongly hierarchically organized societies like systems with dictatorial tendency are more vulnerable to corruption than democracies. A similar type of modelling can be applied to other social contagion spreading processes like opinion formation, doping usage, social disorders or innovation dynamics.

38 pages, 26 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Statistical mechanics of complex networks
• Epidemic spreading in scale-free networks
• The spread of epidemic disease on networks
• Why social networks are different from other types of networks
• Universal behavior in a generalized model of contagion
• Epidemic thresholds on scale-free graphs: the interplay between exponent and preferential choice
• Small World Graphs by the iterated "My Friends are Your Friends'' Principle
• Do extremists impose the structure of social networks?

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Statistical physics of social dynamics
• Quantitative relations between corruption and economic factors
• Modelling Complex Networks: Cameo Graphs And Transport Processes
• On random Cameo graphs with independent edges Part I: path connectivity and essential diameter
• Modelling the Impact of Organization Structure and Whistle Blowers on Intra-Organizational Corruption Contagion