The Daily Stat from Harvard Business Review

 

May 12, 2015 Corruption Is More Common Among Politicians Who Are Economics Graduates Politicians who hold undergraduate degrees in economics are significantly more likely to engage in corrupt practices than their colleagues, according to an analysis by René Ruske of the University of Muenster in Germany of data from the U.S. Congress. Of the 154 senators and representatives with economics degrees from 2005–2009, 13% were involved in cases of bribery, embezzlement, or other forms of corruption; for the 541 without economics degrees, the figure was 6.9%. Past research suggests that people who study economics are more self-oriented than others. SOURCE: Does Economics Make Politicians Corrupt? Empirical Evidence from the United States Congress

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