Examining the Relationship of Corruption with Economic Growth, Poverty and Gender Inequality Albanian Case

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship of corruption with economic growth, poverty and gender inequality in Albania. Albania is a developing country with a GDP growth rate of 1.6% (World Bank, 2012) and income inequality is a serious problem that government has to deal with. Regarding gender discrimination a lot of progress is made. The current government counts six female ministers in its body. Corruption in Albania is a widespread phenomenon and is found almost in every sector of life. TI CPI index ranks Albania in the 116 place out of 177 countries observed. To study this relationship a multiple regression analysis is conducted. Data for this analysis correspond to years 2000 to 2012 and is accessed from World Bank database. in this analysis CC from World Bank is the dependent variable, while FDI, GDP growth rate, GNI per Capita, Unemployment Rate, Proportion of Women in Parliamentary Positions and Women's share in Labor Force Participation Rate are the explanatory variables. The first two variables are used as indicators of economic growth. GNI per capita and Unemployment rate account for poverty, while the last two variables account for gender inequality. The results have shown that when the level of FDIs in Albania is increased government performance in control of corruption is improved. From the analysis it is understood that a decrease in unemployment rate would increase government performance in control of corruption. The results of the analysis showed that when unemployment rate increase, CC decreases. Regarding the link of corruption with GDP growth rate and GNI per capita, an inverse relationship is observed. With an increase in either GDP growth rate or GNI per capita, CC will decrease. Even the relationship with number of women in parliament and their share in labor force participation rate with corruption resulted to be negative. An increase in either proportion of women in parliamentary positions or share of them in labor force participation rate has shown to worsen government performance in control of corruption.