Madlovics, BálintMagyar, Bálint2025-04-192025-04-1920192416-089X10.17356/ieejsp.v5i2.504https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27552Offering a decent database easily applicable to cross-country comparison, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has been widely used as a variable for showing the level of corruption. However, surveys of its sources are based on presumptions which mainly apply to bottom-up forms of corruption, namely free market corruption and bottom-up state capture, and therefore it is insufficient for assessing the state of a country plagued by top-down types of the former. We provide an analytical framework that distinguishes four levels of corruption and draws on the experience of the post-communist region. Using this framework to analyze the CPI’s survey questions, we explain why the index provides a blurred picture of the region. ‘Big data’ evidence for top-down corruption in Hungary is also presented, signifying the need for a more refined index.engunspecifiedCorruptionCPICriminal stateHungaryState captureSociology and Political ScienceLawSDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutionshttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071614439&partnerID=8YFLogxKMadlovics, B & Magyar, B 2019, 'From Petty Corruption to Criminal State : A Critique of the Corruption Perceptions Index as Applied to the Post-Communist Region', Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 103-129. https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v5i2.504, https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v5i2.504