Corruption has been a feature of public institutions for centuries, yet only relatively recently has it been made the subject of sustained scientific analysis. Johann Graf Lambsdorff shows how insights from institutional economics can be used to develop a better understanding of the institutions necessary to carry out corrupt transactions and those that are helpful in inhibiting them. He argues that, rather than being deterred by penalties, corrupt actors are more influenced by other factors such as the opportunism of their criminal counterparts and the danger of acquiring a reputation of unreliability. This suggests a novel strategy for fighting corruption - the "invisible foot" - whereby the unreliability of corrupt counterparts induces honest and good governance even in the absence of good intensions. Combining interdisciplinary theoretical research with state-of-the-art empirical investigations, this book will be an invaluable resource for researchers and policymakers concerned with anti-corruption reform.