Reform of the Payroll System and “Intra-civil Servant’s Corruption": Evidence from Democratic Republic of Congo
| dc.contributor.author | Cha’ngom, Narcisse | |
| dc.contributor.author | Tchoupé, Christelle | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-05-06T07:17:26Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-05-06T07:17:26Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of payroll system reform on the likelihood that a civil servant (state agent) will experience intra-civil service corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As part of a broader Public Administration Reform and Rejuvenation Project (PARRP) launched in 2011, a direct payroll system was introduced, replacing the previous practice of civil servants receiving their salaries in cash, by hand, from superiors or accountants, a process prone to various forms of abuse. Using a comprehensive and representative dataset obtained through the PARRP project, we first document a significant prevalence of corruption within the civil service in the pre-reform/pre-compliance period, with approximately 36% of civil servants reporting incidents of pay-related misconduct. Using access to financial services across provinces as a source of exogenous variation, we find that the reform reduced the probability of experiencing any form of pay-related misconduct by more than a third. Moreover, this deterrent effect is stronger in sectors characterized by an initially high prevalence of wage misconduct, where compliance with the reform led to a reduction in the probability of being a victim of wage misconduct of around 51%. These findings underscore the critical importance of considering corruption within the civil service when designing anti-corruption policies. This dimension has been largely neglected in existing policies, which have focused primarily on tackling corruption between state actors and public service users. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://publication.aercafricalibrary.org/handle/123456789/3981 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | AERC | |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | AERC Working Paper 002-2025 | |
| dc.title | Reform of the Payroll System and “Intra-civil Servant’s Corruption": Evidence from Democratic Republic of Congo | |
| dc.title.alternative | AERC Working Paper 002-2025 |