Do corruption experiences promote emigration? Observational and experimental evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

• Paying bribes for public services makes people more likely to intend to emigrate from sub-Saharan Africa. • The impact of paying bribes to the police on emigration intentions is greater than that of paying bribes for other services. • Education does not moderate the impact of corruption experiences on emigration intentions. • Women are more likely than men to intend to emigrate when they experience corruption. How does corruption influence emigration decisions? Previous research has focused on the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of corruption and their desire to emigrate internationally. In this paper, we argue that personal experiences of corruption influence the desire to emigrate even more strongly than perceptions in order to escape from extortion and demands for bribes. To explore the relationship between corruption experiences and emigration, we analyse survey data from Afrobarometer alongside an original survey experiment. We use Afrobarometer to model the relationship between different types of corruption experiences on both intentions and specific plans to emigrate. We conduct a vignette experiment in Kenya in which respondents rate the desirability of emigration for a hypothetical countryman with varying experiences of corruption. We find that personal experiences of corruption are a strong push factor for migration, and that this relationship does not vary with education levels. Our study extends the literature by focussing on how personal experiences of corruption shape migration.