The Unbundled Corruption Index (UCI) 2.0 is a multi-country, perception-based measure of different types of corruption, using expert surveys, supported by the Center for Economy & Society under the SNF Agora Institute, at Johns Hopkins University.
UCI 1.0 was piloted by Agora faculty Yuen Yuen Ang in 2020, which appeared in a chapter of her award-winning book, China’s Gilded Age, and the journal Global Perspectives. Freakonomics Radio featured UCI in a podcast interview and that episode was described by the host Stephen Dubner as “one of the most powerful and fascinating pieces we’ve done in some time.” Prof. Ang has also introduced UCI 1.0 in global media outlets such as Project Syndicate (listed below). A recent piece, titled “Mismeasuring Corruption,” was reprinted in more than a dozen countries, including Brazil, Jordan, Nepal, and Uruguay. Since its release, UCI has been taught in leading business schools, including Wharton and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Through the UCI, we hope to demonstrate a more rigorous and inclusive way of measuring corruption globally, redirect attention from an overly narrow focus on the overall quantity of corruption toward the existence and harms of different types of corruption, support targeted anti-corruption programs, bring attention to the “corruption of the rich” (such as institutionalized influence peddling) and its corrosive effects on democracy, and serve an equalizing function by presenting forms of corruption prevalent in poor and rich countries within a single index.
Between August-November 2024, our research team will be collecting expert responses for the UCI 2.0. We will be sending country experts individual invitations or forwarding our invitations to partnering organizations to take the UCI survey. If you have received an invitation, we really hope you can participate and contribute to our research.
Thank you!
Yuen Yuen Ang (Alfred Chandler Chair of Political Economy)
Bryce Corrigan (Senior Statistician and Lecturer)
Celine Sui (JHU BA Student and Research Assistant)
For more information
YY Ang. 2020. Chapter 2: “Unbundling Corruption Across Countries.” In China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption. Cambridge University Press. (Winner of the Douglass North Best Book Award, Alice Amsden Book Award, and Honorable Mention for Barrington Moore Best Book in Comparative Historical Sociology)
YY Ang. 2020. “Unbundling Corruption: Revisiting Six Questions on Corruption,” Global Perspectives.
YY Ang. 2020. “Unbundling Corruption: Why it Matters and How to Do It,” OECD Development Matters Blog, 25 June 2020.
“Is the US Really Less Corrupt than China?” Interview on Freakonomics. 3 Nov 2021.
YY Ang. 2024. “Mismeasuring Corruption.” Project Syndicate. 22 March 2024.
YY Ang. 2024. “How Exceptional is China’s Crony Capitalist Boom.” Project Syndicate. 10 May 2024. Also available on SSRN as “Why Has China’s Economy Grown Despite Corruption and Is Now Stagnating?”