Corruption is widespread in developing countries, and there is universal agreement that it needs to be addressed to achieve inclusive economic growth. The focus on the effects of corruption revolves mostly around income, profits and corporations. But what about the consequences of exposure to local corruption for individuals and households, in particular on their mental health? I have been working in Vietnam since 2013, travelling there for data collection and to meet collaborators. This – combined with my life experience in India, where there is daily corruption, demands for bribes from police officers and traffic cops – led us to look at the effects of corruption on the mental health of the population. Firstly, Vietnam has for a long time been doing poorly with regards to corruption. Transparency International scores countries based on the levels of corruption and other transparency factors, and Vietnam has, historically, not done well, sitting in the bottom-half on a consistent basis. Corruption is a part of life. In 2017, Vietnam ranked 107 of 180 countries onTransparency International’sindex of perceived corruption in the public sector. Previous research from 2012 has shown 35 per cent of Vietnamese businesses paid bribes to compete for government procurement contracts, 23 per cent to expedite business registration and 70 per cent during customs procedures. Not all corruption is on a huge scale. In fact, petty corruption for accessing basic public goods and services, is the most prevalent. In day-to-day life, you mightfind yourself having to give a gift to a government official to get work done or for them to open afile for a complaint; if you want to make sure that the doctor sees you on time, you have to pay someone. This is all very apparent when you spend time there. Recently, there has been a lot of public discussion around the issue. This was emphasised when Communist Party of VietnamGeneral Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong launched anunprecedented anticorruption campaignin 2016. This resulted in the arrests of several highprofile government officials, executives of state enterprises, and others in the private sector. Between January 2016 and August 2018, an estimated 56 government officials were disciplined, and 500 individuals prosecuted in 40 corruption cases. New rules were put in place to prevent government official misusing their powers. Secondly, mental health issues are a significant part of health problems not only in Vietnam but in other South East Asian countries. They receive less attention than mental health issues in more developed countries – there is less acknowledgement of the issues, partly down to cultural factors, but also due to the capacity of the healthcare sectors. Working with colleagues at Newcastle University and University of Copenhagen, we used data from the 2017 Vietnam Social Capital Study (VSCS) and the 2016 and 2018 Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS). Thefirst was done with rural residents in 22 provinces across Vietnam. The second was with rural households running small business enterprises in 12 provinces. Both data sets, using different econometric techniques, found similar results – there is strong and consistent evidence that day-to-day petty corruption is positively associated with psychological distress and poorer mental health. Day-to-day petty corruption takes a toll – the moment you step out of the house, you don’t know when someone will demand a bribe. This can be due to multiple reasons. In low-income countries, harassment bribes are a form of regressive income tax and usually a non-trivial part of your income, especially for poorer households. The uncertainty and arbitrary nature of bribes – when will they be necessary, howmuch is needed, who will be targeted – creates anxiety and can be particularly damaging to poorer households. Bribes also create a feeling of helplessness and isolation – access to essential services such as healthcare, education and government services can be dictated by corrupt public officials, eroding trust in local governance, along with damaging mental health. Those with mental health problems are less likely to be active in the labour market, and have lower productivity. Thus, corruption’s effects on mental well-being go beyond the individual and effect the larger economy as well. Ours is also thefirst study to examine the potential effects of anti-corruption efforts on mental health. The crackdown meant we had data to examine from before and after the campaign started. Ourfindings suggest there may be substantial psychosocial and mental health benefits from such efforts. The results using the Centre for the Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale to measure depressive symptoms within the VARHS show a 17% improvement in mental health after the anti-corruption campaign started compared to before its implementation. 44 | 37% of people believe bribes are required to get a government job Source: Data from the 2017 Vietnam Social Capital Study. VietnamCorruption Indicators 32% of people believe bribes are required in healthcare 25% of people believe bribes are required in education
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