Political corruption scandals may be predicted by network science

According to the World Bank, corruption scandals siphon more than $2 trillion per year from the global economy, making corruption one of the major causes of slow economic growth and socioeconomic inequality. Now in a new study, researchers have demonstrated that it may be possible to predict who will play a role in future scandals by modeling current scandals using networks. The results may provide a tool for detecting corruptive practices and reducing the high cost of corruption to society.

The researchers, led by Matjaž Perc at the University of Maribor in Slovenia and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna in Austria, along withHaroldo V. Ribeiro from the University of Maringá and coauthors from two other universities in Brazil, have published a paper on their analysis of political corruption using network science in a recent issue of the Journal of Complex Networks.