Does political corruption erode civic values and foster dishonest behavior? I test this hypothesis in the context of Mexico by combining data on local government corruption and cheating on school tests. I find that, following revelations of corruption by local officials, secondary students' cheating on cognitive tests increases significantly. The effect is large and robust and persists for over a year after malfeasance is revealed. These findings are validated by evidence from individual survey data, which documents that individuals interviewed right after corruption is revealed report being less honest, less trustworthy, and more prone to thinking that cheating is necessary to succeed, compared to similar individuals interviewed just beforehand. (JEL D72, H70, I21, K42, O17, Z13)

中文翻译：

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榜样的力量：腐败助长腐败

政治腐败会侵蚀公民价值观并助长不诚实行为吗？我通过结合有关地方政府腐败和学校考试作弊的数据，在墨西哥的背景下检验了这一假设。我发现，随着地方官员腐败的曝光，中学生在认知测试中的作弊行为显着增加。这种影响是巨大而强大的，并且在渎职被揭露后会持续一年多。这些发现得到了来自个人调查数据的证据的验证，这些文件显示，与之前接受采访的类似个人相比，腐败后立即接受采访的个人报告说他们不那么诚实、不那么值得信赖，并且更倾向于认为欺骗是成功所必需的。(JEL D72、H70、I21、K42、O17、Z13)