CHEAP BRIBES AND THE CORRUPTION BAN - A COORDINATION GAME AMONG RATIONAL LEGISLATORS

Legislators in modern democracies (a) accept bribes that are small com pared to the value of the statutes they pass and (b) allow bans agains t bribery to be enforced. in our model of bribery, rational legislator s accept bribes smaller not only than the benefit the briber receives but than the costs the legislators incur in accepting the bribes. Rath er than risk this outcome, the legislators may be willing to suppress bribery altogether. The size of legislatures, the quality of voter inf ormation, the nature of party organization, and the structure of commi ttees will all influence the frequency and size of bribes.