This paper studies the relationship between corruption and satisfaction in Spain using the technique of anchoring vignettes, which allows for the correction of the scale perception bias between individuals according to their socioeconomic characteristics. The results show that corruption affects pleope’s satisfaction, and that this relationship can be utilized to estimate the social cost of corruption in monetary terms. The correction of the scale perception bias, both in the answers to perceived corruption and satisfaction, implies that the social cost of corruption is higher than that observed in individual answers. The social cost of corruption varies significantly across Spanish autonomous regions.

Key words: vignettes, corruption, satisfaction, perception.
JEL Classification: H0, D73.