Riess, M. (2013). Optimal control models of corruption: citizens bribing officials [Diploma Thesis, Technische Universität Wien]. reposiTUm. https://resolver.obvsg.at/urn:nbn:at:at-ubtuw:1-51454
This master's thesis applies methods of optimal control theory to investigate the influence of law enforcement measures on targeted corrupt citizens and corrupt officials.<br />More precisely it deals with the relative numbers of corrupt citizens and corrupt officials as the state variables and allows for two different control instruments, referring to the two corrupt groups considered.<br />One main task is to develop a nonlinear model that marries two already existing and well analyzed approaches of modeling corruption and crime in general, respectively.<br />As the problem cannot be solved analytically, efficient numerical methods are applied to solve the optimality conditions resulting from Pontryagin's Maximum Principle.<br />Since the infinite time horizon model does not yield to the desired results, the model is further analyzed as a finite time horizon optimal control problem. In addition, a selection of optimal solution paths and their associated optimal controls, as well as the optimal solution paths for a variety of initial states are given.<br />Furthermore, an example for sensitivity analyses and the discussion of a DNSS point are carried out to point out some interesting topics for future analyses related to this master's thesis.<br />