---
id: "pisquared:interview/yenkey-chris"
type: "Pi-Squared interview"
title: "Anita McGahan in conversation with Chris Yenkey"
url: "https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/interviews/yenkey-chris"
date: "2026-03-17"
people: ["Anita McGahan","Chris Yenkey"]
summary: "Chris Yenkey is Associate Professor in the Sonoco International Business Department and a core faculty member of the Rule of Law Collaborative, both at the..."
recording: "https://vimeo.com/1189857591"
source: "Pi-Squared (pisquared.theburnescenter.org), The Burnes Center for Social Change"
licence: "none stated"
---

# Anita McGahan in conversation with Chris Yenkey

Chris Yenkey, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina · 17 March 2026

## About the guest

Chris Yenkey is Associate Professor in the Sonoco International Business Department and a core faculty member of the Rule of Law Collaborative, both at the University of South Carolina. He earned his PhD in Economic Sociology from Cornell University, and has served on the faculty of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Prof Yenkey is widely recognized for his expertise in understanding corruption as a collective action problem. Explaining the persistence of corruption requires better understanding of the conditions under which the general public is drawn into the practice despite ethical misgivings. Professor Yenkey uses field experiments to examine the micro-foundations of public support for corruption, especially bribery. He also studies political violence arising in tandem with corruption, and particularly the effects on global capital flows to African countries. He also examines organizational misconduct that may not constitute corruption but is nonetheless central to the evolution of distrust. He is published in our top journals, where he has been recognized with important editorial appointments.

## Reflections from the interview

Anita discusses with Chris Yenkey, Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina his research on corruption, misconduct, and political violence.

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**Corruption as a Collective Action Problem**

Chris argues that corruption can be episodic at the individual level yet highly prevalent at a societal level. Using a traffic analogy, he illustrates how individually infrequent rule-breaking (like running red lights) accumulates into a systemic problem at population scale.

**Why People Engage in Corruption**

Rather than framing corruption as something people "legitimize," Chris emphasizes a simpler driver: **short-term benefit combined with a low expectation of getting caught**. He sees rational choice as the foundation, with social and cultural nuance layered on top.

**Public Support for Corruption**

His research shows that ordinary citizens sometimes become participants in corruption out of necessity — bribing a nurse for faster medical access, for example. Notably, his field experiments found that people who pay bribes to solve their own problems often view the exchange as **mutually beneficial**, not purely exploitative.

**Transparency and the FCPA**

Transparency has long been the standard remedy for corruption. However, Chris highlights a significant recent shift: the recent effective suspension of enforcement of the **Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)**, signaling that U.S. companies won't be penalized for corrupt practices in high-competition environments (e.g., mineral rights). Critically, the new guidelines still allow enforcement *against foreign competitors* — a selective application Chris finds remarkable.

**What Should Be Done?**

Rather than simply reinstating the old rules, Chris argues the world has changed enough — particularly around competition for critical minerals — that a new framework is needed. He's working on approaches to address the collective action problem by bringing suppliers and buyers together in fairer structures.

**Reason for Optimism**

Despite his concerns, Chris remains an optimist. He notes that the vast majority of people, even in the most corrupt environments, are **cooperating and pro-social** most of the time. His view: humans fundamentally want to help each other — they just need systems and structures that enable that cooperation rather than forcing zero-sum competition.

## Related resources

- [Chris’s USC webpage](https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/moore/directory/yenkey_christopher.php)
- [Rule of Law Collaborative](https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/provost/academicpriorities/usc_centers_and_institutes/rolc/)
- [Chris’s article on support for corruption](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.2024.18659)
- [Chris on Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J49oYywAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)
- [Chris’s paper on fraud and market participation](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0001839217694359)

## Recording

Video: https://vimeo.com/1189857591

## Category

[Where Do We Go From Here?](https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/category/where-next)

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Original page: https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/interviews/yenkey-chris · Licence: none stated