Report by Zack Zimbalist, PhD

In June 2025, I was fortunate to be able to travel to Madrid for the annual European Political Science Association (EPSA). I was joined by my colleagues Jonas, Sidan, and Ashley.

Ashley and I presented our paper, “Bypassing Bribes: Mobile Money and Corruption in Africa,”which analyzes the link between national-level mobile money activity and individual-level bribe payments across 31 African countries. In the paper, we argue that the growing prevalence of mobile money likely enhances transparency and increases the costs of engaging in corruption. Additionally, by enabling direct and digital payment of service fees, mobile money may allow users to bypass intermediaries and government officials who might otherwise solicit bribes. The audience and our panel’s discussants provided us with useful feedback and new ideas on how to build on this line of work in the future.

Apart from our panel, I attended dozens of panels over the course of the conference, and I was impressed by the wide range of innovative experimental and quasi-experimental studies presented by graduate students and faculty alike. I felt like a kid at a candy store with papers on taxation, governance, and corruption in a variety of contexts across Europe, Latin America, and Africa. One of my favorite papers focused on the long-run effects of cotton cultivation in Mozambique during the colonial period. Participating at these sessions enabled me to make new connections with folks in the UK, Spain, France, and elsewhere.

The opportunity to attend a conference in the capital city of Madrid was another personal highlight for me. It’s a lovely city, and despite the summer heat, I enjoyed early morning runs and catching up with old amigos from Brazil and Mexico—one of which I hadn’t seen in 20 years. What a treat!

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