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November 14, 2014 Corruption Is Higher in U.S. State Capitals That Are More Isolated Many American states built their capitals in central locations, far from established cities, in order to spread the burden of travel for elected officials, but remoteness appears to breed corruption, say Filipe R. Campante of Harvard and Quoc-Anh Do of Sciences Po Paris. A 1-standard-deviation increase in a capital's isolation is associated with a 0.75-standard-deviation increase in corruption, as measured by convictions for crimes such as bribery. Newspaper coverage of state politics is lower in states where readers are, on average, farther from the capital. SOURCE: Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability, and Corruption: Evidence from US States

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