Abstract
There is a view in the literature that curbing corruption is concurrently growth augmenting. We present evidence that such is not always the case: independent of its indirect effects, a drop in corruption is growth augmenting only if there has been a persistent decline in corruption in the past.
► According to the literature curbing corruption produces a concurrent growth effect. ► We show that this is true only with a trend of falling corruption, not otherwise. ► We account for endogeneity of corruption, fixed effects, and volatility of growth.
