Study: Isolation of state capitals may produce corruption | In Session

Study: Isolation of state capitals may produce corruption | In Session:

'via Blog this'The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that researchers at Harvard University and Singapore Management University found a strong correlationbetween convictions on federal corruption charges and distance from the states’ population centers.

Many notably small capitals, including Springfield, Ill., Pierre, S.D., and Albany, N.Y., were measured as being among the nation’s most corrupt. Nashville also made the list, but researchers suggested even it fits the pattern. They labeled Tennessee’s capital as isolated. (Their calculations may have been skewed by the fact that Tennessee has several sizable cities spread out all over creation.)

The researchers will probably spark even more debate with their suggested explanation: media coverage. They found that the closer a capital was to the population center, the “more intense media coverage of state politics, and therefore greater accountability.”