Expectation of corruption can produce more corruption on its own.
Evidence
This argument is analogous to the one which holds that widespread corruption is self-generating: the expectation suffices to produce more of the thing itself (Andvig and Moene 1990).
— Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 1010
Categorization
XREF: Connects to Gambetta’s core self-fulfilling-prophesy logic around trust and protection, and to Schelling’s focal-point dynamics. — connects to: Mafia protection makes distrust self-perpetuating and endogenous. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 70; Assuming officials are inherently corrupt may itself breed the corruption it seeks to prevent. — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 63; Institutions designed for worst-case knaves may actively corrupt virtuous people. — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 950
corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 1010