Corruption Perception Index Research Articles

INCREASING THE ROLE OF UZBEKISTAN IN THE WORLD BANK'S CORRUPTION CONTROL INDEX: AN OVERVIEW OF CURRENT INITIATIVES AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS

This article provides a comprehensive overview of Uzbekistan's ongoing efforts to combat corruption and improve its standing in the World Bank's Control of Corruption Index. It outlines the multi-faceted approach adopted by the country, including legal reforms, the digitization of government services, public engagement strategies, and international cooperation. By examining the effectiveness of these initiatives, the article highlights both the progress made and the challenges that remain. It offers insights into the strategic measures being implemented by Uzbekistan to foster a transparent, accountablegovernance system as part of its broader socio-economic reform agenda.

ASEAN banking industry performance analysis

This research focuses on the banking industry in ASEAN. The ASEAN economy is one of the economic forces that needs to be considered. This is due to the fast and significant economic growth of ASEAN even in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis. In this study, we will look at the specific influence of banks, industry, macroeconomics and Country Governance Indicators in determining banking performance in ASEAN. The research period was taken during the post-crisis period, namely 2011 to 2019. The dependent variable used was bank performance as proxied by EARTA, while the independent variables were divided into 4 main categories, specific banks, industry, macroeconomics, and Country Governance Indicators. Country Governance Indicator variable using Corruption Index. The data used is sourced from the Osiris Database for all banks in ASEAN. This study uses multiple linear regression analysis techniques. The results showed that the bank-specific variables; there are 4 variables that have a significant effect on banking performance, industry indicators have no effect on bank performance, macroeconomic specific variables have a significant effect on bank performance, while the Country Governance Indicator proxied by the Corruption Index has an effect on bank performance.

Determinan Kejahatan Siber (Cybercrime) di ASEAN Tahun 2015-2020: Pendekatan Panel Data Regression with Random Effect

The use of information and communication technology in ASEAN is massive and growing. This development not only has a positive impact, but also a negative one. In addition to advancements in various fields, criminality is also increasing. ASEAN is the fastest growing digital market in the world. As digital technology becomes more integrated into our lives, cybercrime will increase exponentially. This study aims to determine the overview and variables that affect cybercrime in ASEAN in 2015-2020. This research uses secondary data from ITU, World Bank, UNDP, and Transparency International the Global Coalition Against Corruption. Through descriptive analysis, it is found that the value of the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) in ASEAN has increased, but there is still a cybersecurity gap between countries in ASEAN. Through the panel data regression equation formed, it is found that economic growth, mobile broadband users, and average years of schooling significantly affect the GCI in ASEAN in 2015-2020. Meanwhile, the variables of mobile cellular users, technology exports, and corruption perception index do not have a significant effect. Therefore, governments in ASEAN countries are also expected to continue to increase economic growth and allocate budgets for technical implementation of cybersecurity. In addition, the government should maintain the stability of the number of mobile broadband users, and increase the average number of mobile broadband users.

Modeling Adaptive Performance of the Academics in Selected Public Universities in Eastern Philippines during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 crisis has prompted the implementation of new measures aimed at containing the virus, given its potential health threats to humanity. Studies indicate that the stringency of these policies is associated with a country’s performance in managing the pandemic. However, the literature still needs more coherent evidence on the relationship between policy stringency, COVID-19 management, and corruption perception, and thus, warrants further investigation. This study used data mining on publicly available datasets from 96 countries worldwide, which include Transparency International’s corruption perception index, COVID-19 stringency measures from the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, and COVID-19 management performance scores from the Lowy Institute. The researchers applied clustering techniques to group nations with similar characteristics and mediation analysis to explore the relationship between a country’s corruption perception and its COVID-19 stringency concerning its management performance. Findings revealed four clustered countries. Fourteen countries with less stringent policies and highly transparent tend to manage COVID-19-related indicators better. Thirty-six countries were imposing stricter policies with low scores in the corruption perception level inclined to have lower COVID-19 management performance. Forty-five countries with average stringency and corruption perception levels have average COVID-19 management performance. Meanwhile, the mediation results proposed no mediation effects of the corruption perception on the association of the policy severity and the COVID-19 management performance level of the 96 countries and all clustered countries. With these findings, this study hopes to enlighten policymakers to review the strictness of their policies, as it posits an inverse effect on the COVID-19 management performance of a country.

Corruption and its Implications for Politics in South Asian Countries

This study measures corruption using survey data, newspaper reports, court records, anti-corruption agency records, and other sources. Corruption and problems with the government have been significant problems in South Asia since the early 1980s. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from Transparency International is recommended because it is a "robust" indicator that looks at many different ways to measure political corruption in each country. The root causes of corruption in South Asian countries, however, are a monopoly of government-controlled institutions, excessive regulations, convoluted tax and licencing systems, numerous government departments with opaque bureaucracies and discretionary powers, and a lack of transparency in laws and procedures. Tax evasion, which helps black money accumulate and lowers public morale, has a substantial negative impact on the economies and politics of South Asian nations. Since the 1980s, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Bangladesh have all been officially charged with corruption. In addition, political rivals and the media frequently accuse the prime ministers of Sri Lanka and Nepal of corruption. In Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other South Asian countries, political bribery is widespread. In 2002, General Pervez Musharraf passed stringent election laws that forbade politicians convicted of a crime from seeking office. The rule's detractors believe that applying it would prevent the civilian community's two most influential political figures from challenging the military administration in elections later this year.

Clientelism and its Influence in the Nepali Press

This review explores the clientelist structure in politics and its influence in Nepali media with two aims: first, to identify how the clientelist structure has been practiced and influenced media in Nepal; second, to identify how the media perform the functions of clientelist networks. This review uses desk research of post 1990 documents focusing on the practices of clientelist structure in personalized behavior of the leaders, volatile political culture, fragmented civic society, and mounting corruption index in Nepal. Clientelism was a widely practiced phenomenon and it weakened the ideological base of the political parties and became the causes of uncertainty in Nepali politics. The unstable politics decreased public trust and reputation of the politicians, and visibility became a major concern to the leaders while reaching out to the electorate. In this context, the media became a vital tool to communicate with the public for political goals. The power holders practice clientelism, appointing loyalties in the board of directors in the state-owned media, attempt to endorse press restricted bills, and distribute welfare advertisements and subsidies to the favorable media. The media owners practice clientelism, recruiting professionals with strong political ties, frequently changing editors and journalists to ensure balanced representation of different political connections. The journalists tend to establish political connections and cover news with limited ethical guidelines with reference to their allies and advocate the political strategies of their patronage. Besides political intervention, the shrinking economy in the limited media market, long history of political parallelism of the press and the strong presence of the role of the state might be the explanation for adopting clientelist networks in the media.

Diversification of good governance in European Union countries using the TOPSIS method

ObjectivesThe main goal of this study is to identify and evaluate the level of good governance in European Union countries and to determine whether there is a relationship between good governance and economic growth.Material and methodsEmpirical materials are based on currently available statistical data from Eurostat. In case of unavailability of unit data in the studied year, they were replaced with data from the nearest period, i.e. 2020. Due to the complexity of the analyzed categories and the possibility of ordering objects from best to worst to achieve the goal, we used the TOPSIS method for multidimensional data analysis.ResultsThe study found that the variable with the greatest impact on the ranking achieved by a given country in the GG range was the Corruption Perception Index, followed by the proportion of the population who trust EU institutions. In the presented comparison, three countries, Luxembourg, Germany, and Sweden, occupied the top positions in the GG scale, while Greece and Cyprus were at the bottom. Countries with very high GG accounted for 11% of the total number of EU countries. No countries were identified as belonging to the fourth class, which is characterized by a very low level of GG. The majority of countries, over 67%, were represented by those with medium to low levels of GG.ConclusionsThe analysis allowed for identifying a significant correlation between Good Governance and Economic Growth in European Union countries. It can be assumed that the higher the level of economic development (measured by many SDGs), the lower the level of corruption in state institutions, and the greater the trust of citizens in public institutions, which translates into a higher level of GG.

Corruption and its Implications for Politics in South Asian Countries

This study measures corruption using survey data, newspaper reports, court records, anti-corruption agency records, and other sources. Corruption and problems with the government have been significant problems in South Asia since the early 1980s. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from Transparency International is recommended because it is a “robust” indicator that looks at many different ways to measure political corruption in each country. The root causes of corruption in South Asian countries, however, are a monopoly of government-controlled institutions, excessive regulations, convoluted tax and licensing systems, numerous government departments with opaque bureaucracies and discretionary powers, and a lack of transparency in laws and procedures. Tax evasion, which helps black money accumulate and lowers public morale, has a substantial negative impact on the economies and politics of South Asian nations. Since the 1980s, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Bangladesh have all been officially charged with corruption. In addition, political rivals and the media frequently accuse the prime ministers of Sri Lanka and Nepal of corruption. In Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other South Asian countries, political bribery is widespread. In 2002, General Pervez Musharraf passed stringent election laws that forbade politicians convicted of a crime from seeking office. The rule’s detractors believe that applying it would prevent the civilian community’s two most influential political figures from challenging the military administration in elections later this year.

Digitalization of the national economy as an objective basis for improving the effectiveness of anti-corruption policy

The study aims to establish the relationship between the level of digitalization of the national economy and the success of the state’s anti-corruption policy. Clarification of the current methods of quantifying corruption has shown that nowadays the only relevant index reflecting the national corruption indicator is CPI. Based on the analysis of its values for 2018–2022, the leaders among European and Asian countries – Denmark and Singapore – were identified, with which a comparative analysis of the digitalization of Russia’s national economy was conducted using the Digital Evolution scorecard. The results showed that the anti-corruption policies of countries that have completed digitalization or are actively pursuing it are the most successful. This suggests that the digitalization of the national economy is one of the key conditions for increasing the effectiveness of anti-corruption policy. In confirmation, the positive effect of the influence of the national economy’s digitalization on the socio-economic system as a whole and a number of groups of factors that lead to the emergence of corruption were noted.

EFFECT OF INFLATION, INTEREST RATE, EXCHANGE RATE, CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX, AND TRADE OPENNESS ON FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN 6 ASEAN COUNTRIES

Every country faced economic instability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the economic instability, some discovered that the number of foreign direct investment inflows increases in most of ASEAN countries. This phenomenon makes investors hard to predict the level of foreign direct investment within the region. The purpose of this research is to understand which are the variables that may have impact on the inflows of foreign direct investment, specifically in ASEAN countries. Therefore, the research is conducted in 6 ASEAN countries that contribute the most to the overall foreign direct inflows in ASEAN from the year 2002 to 2021. This research uses a quantitative approach with panel data regression analysis. This research is tested in both Eviews 12. The result shows that inflation and interest rates don't affect foreign direct investment inflows significantly in the 6 ASEAN countries, whereas exchange rate, corruption perception index, and trade openness have a significant effect on foreign direct investment.

CORRUPTION IN BULGARIA: CONTEXT, FACTORS AND INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

This study is focused on defining the reasons, factors, and consequences of corruption in Bulgaria in a comparative context. A strong non-linear interplay is demonstrated between political stability and corruption perceptions. Analysing the complex interaction between the dynamics of the Corruption Index and the three indicators of quality of public governance, we admit that the indicators are directly related to the effectiveness of government policy in terms of suppressing the potential for corruption, on the one hand, and to the public perception of government effectiveness, on the other. In countries demonstrating high anti-corruption scores, the Political Stability and Control of Corruption indicators have a direct impact on the Corruption Index. In low-rated countries, including Bulgaria, no direct influence on corruption is observed for any of the three indicators of quality of government.

The Neighborhood Effect on Perceptions of Corruption: Comparative Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis

This article aims to investigate the factors influencing the perception of high corruption levels in a country and examines the potential existence of spatial dependence in the distribution of these factors. It specifically focuses on exploring the interdependence between the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and forty four other factors categorized into six distinct categories. The central hypothesis posits that the interdependence between the CPI and these factors is more pronounced at the domestic level compared to its influence on indicators in neighboring countries. To assess the degree of interdependence between the CPI and each of the other indicators, the Pearson's Coefficient of Determination is employed, enabling an evaluation of corruption levels based on domestic state-specific factors. Furthermore, Moran's Bivariate Spatial Autocorrelation Index is utilized to elucidate the extent to which the CPI in one country influences one of the forty-four indicators in neighboring countries. Additionally, the Index of Spatial Interdependence is employed to ascertain the significance of domestic and international factors for each indicator. The research findings provide several noteworthy conclusions. Firstly, the neighborhood effect proves to be particularly significant for indicators that hold universal relevance for all governments, such as demographic and standard of living indicators. Conversely, indicators influenced by institutional, historical, and cultural differences exhibit stronger interrelations within the state. Lastly, the study establishes that the Pearson's Index holds greater significance than the Bivariate Moran's Index of Spatial Autocorrelation and the Index of Spatial Interdependence, thereby confirming the proposed hypothesis.

Exploring the impact of institutional quality to South Africa’s transition to renewables

ABSTRACTMotivated by the need for transition toward cleaner and sustainable energy sources, this study delves into the relationship between institutional quality and South Africa’s renewable energy adoption. The objective is to examine how institutional factors influence the share of renewable energy in the country, recognizing that energy transition hinges not only on socioeconomic and technological determinants but also on political economy and institutional variables. This paper proxies institutional quality by the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Regulatory Quality (REGQUAL), and Government Efficiency (GOV_EFF), on South Africa’s renewable energy share. We find that perceived institutional cleanliness, as measured by a higher CPI, positively affects the share of renewables. This can be attributed to the public’s growing association of corruption with government activities and fossil fuel-based electricity generation. Additionally, improved REGQUAL fosters a healthier energy market but paradoxically results in a lower share of renewable energy in the short term. While contributing to stability, government effectiveness can hinder renewables’ growth due to established industry interests and short-term priorities. The implications of these findings underscore the complex interplay of political and institutional dynamics in shaping South Africa’s energy landscape. This research highlights the need for integrated policies addressing environmental and socioeconomic objectives.

Menguji Posibilitas Transplantasi Variasi Bantuan Keuangan Partai Politik di Indonesia (Studi Perbandingan di Kolombia, Brazil, Korea Selatan, dan Turki)

There are variations in political party Financial Assistances in various countries with various implications, both positive and negative. Besides, there are problems with political parties in Indonesia which in literatures are suspected to be related to the regulation of political party Financial Assistances. This research focuses on answering two research problems. First, what are the implications for the regulation of various models of Financial Assistances for political parties in Colombia, Brazil, South Korea, and Turkey referring to the aspects of free and fair elections, democratic politics, and corruption index? Second, how is the possibility of legal transplantation of political party Financial Assistances in order to solve the problems of political parties in Indonesia? This research is socio-legal research that analyzes secondary data. The results of this study show two results. First, it shows that the law in four countries have different implications, which there are three notes namely that i) countries that are quite good in the aspect of free and fair elections are South Korea, Brazil, and Colombia, ii) the four countries are not good enough in the aspect of democratic politics, iii) countries that are quite good in the aspect of corruption index is South Korea. Second, it shows that there is the possibility of legal transplantation which there are three notes: i) there is a constant and dynamic variable regulation of political party Financial Assistances in Indonesia, ii) the problem of political party Financial Assistances in Indonesia is in the democratic politics and corruption index which means need to transplant several aspects, iii) there is a possibility of transplanting variations in political party Financial Assistances as long as certain conditions are fulfilled.

Tolerance to gratification as a proxy for corruption: Comparison between Indonesia and Hong Kong

Corruption is a global problem faced by every country and culture around the world. Since overt corrupt behaviour does not develop in a person overnight, it is therefore important to identify the more proximal and benign forms of corruption. In this research, taking advantage of the cultural and corruption perception index differences between Indonesia and Hong Kong, we conducted a qualitative study on the phenomenon of gratification, the act of giving a public officer monetary or physical rewards for a service they provide, even though the service is within their job description. The research subjects were drawn from Hong Kong and Indonesian college students or fresh graduates. During the interview, we found striking differences between Hong Kong and Indonesian respondents in terms of the experience of being asked for a reward, the perception and urge to give a reward, and the tendency to accept a reward during a public service transaction. Indonesian respondents are generally more exposed, familiar, and permissive to gratification than their Hong Kong counterparts. The reasons for this phenomenon were then investigated and a possible correlation of this permissiveness with the country’s corruption perception index was then discussed. It is suggested that corruption eradication must be accompanied by sociocultural and educational intervention toward naïve subjects, thus preventing them from being permissive to gratification, which can act as the proxy for active corruption in the future.

Elite Capture Syndrome and Anti-Corruption Control in Nigeria: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission in Perspective

Like many African states, Nigeria has hitherto been caught in the web of pervasive acts of grand and petty corruption. The pervasive nature of political and bureaucratic corruption in Nigeria has undeniably impoverished her economy and, as such, warranted the establishment of the EFCC and ICPC. However, anti-corruption agencies have not been able to control corruption to a minimum, as Nigeria remains poorly ranked in the global corruption index. This research takes on a critical and comparative lens to understand the nature of class politics in the fight against corruption, to examine the level of high-profile prosecutions, to identify irregularities in the institutions of law enforcement, and to consider the level of transparency and accountability for recovered loot and confiscated properties. The study finds, among other things, that powerful elites have high-jacked anti-corruption fights of the EFCC and ICPC, with low-profile convictions in Nigeria, and public accountability and transparency regarding recovered loot is almost nonexistent. The Elite Capture paradigm is employed as a theoretical guide in its narrative.

Poverty Reduction Effect of Chinese Foreign Aid to Africa: An Empirical Study Based on Panel Data of 48 Recipient Countries

This research examines the impact and mechanisms of poverty alleviation associated with Chinese aid to African countries, utilizing comprehensive panel data from the 2000-2017 timeframe. A detailed exploration of salient indicators - the headcount ratio, poverty gap, and poverty severity - has been conducted to critically evaluate the efficacy of this aid. The study substantiates that Chinese aid meaningfully ameliorates the headcount ratio, lessens the poverty gap, and mitigates poverty severity in the recipient countries. Further examination of mechanisms reveals that the principal stratagem of reducing poverty resides in the proliferation of capital accumulation, fostering job generation, and advancing human capital development in the recipient countries. An assessment of varied outcomes demonstrates Chinese aid to be most potent in poverty alleviation in countries characterized by diminished per capita income and lower corruption indices. When compared, Official Development Assistance (ODA) exerts a more pronounced impact on curtailing poverty severity than other official aids, which have a more potent influence on reducing poverty incidence. Mixed aid-types demonstrate superior efficacy in decreasing poverty incidence, with development aid showing remarkable proficiency in addressing poverty depth and severity. This investigation significantly broadens the existing discourse on the poverty-reduction impact of Chinese foreign aid, offering invaluable insights and articulate points of reference for the enhancement of collaborative strategies in poverty alleviation policy between nations.

An analysis of spatial effects of terrorism on stock market returns in the Middle East countries

PurposeStock markets are highly sensitive to foreign and domestic events. Stock exchange markets react promptly to news and are known as an indicator of good and bad trading conditions. Terrorist attacks leave adverse effects on the economy and cause stock price volatility and, consequently, stock return volatility. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the spatial effects of terrorism on stock market returns in the Middle East from 2008 to 2019.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses analytical research design and estimates spatial model. Before estimating the spatial model, the spillover effects were confirmed for the spatial autoregressive model using Moran’s diagnostic test for spatial dependence, Geary’s C test and Akaike statistic.FindingsThe results of this study on spatial panel data and based on spatial autoregressive estimator indicated that terrorism and associated neighborhood effects had a negative impact on stock returns in Middle East countries. Also, the corruption index and oil price negatively affected stock market return in these countries, while the democracy index had a positive effect on stock market returns. According to the results, to achieve a high and stable stock market return, it is recommended that high-level consultation is pursued with leaders of involved countries to reduce the devastating effects of terrorist activities, increase political and economic stability, attract stockholders to stock markets and spend corresponding incomes developing the infrastructures in this sector in countries of this region.Originality/valueMost of the studies have investigated the impact of terrorism on the stock market returns at the national or provincial level. However, the effect of terrorism on the stock market index in the tense region of the Middle East, which is the center of terrorist attacks in the world, has not been dealt with by considering the spatial econometric effects. Thus, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is a first attempt to study the impact of terrorism on the stock market returns in Middle East countries using the spatial econometric approach.

The roles of e-government in combating corruption: evidence from European countries

Purpose This study aims to analyze the effects of e-government on corruption prevalence by using a sample of 29 European countries over the period 2012–2019. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) model to mitigate the problems of cross-sectional dependence. The PCSE model is also considered to reexamine the findings when the presence of heteroscedasticity, fixed effects and endogeneity issues are taken into account. The theoretical model incorporates one-year-lagged explanatory variables to deal with endogeneity. The autoregressive distributed lag method using the dynamic fixed effects estimator is chosen to deal with the time and country-fixed effects in the effort to measure the short- and long-run effects of e-government more precisely. Findings The results indicate that e-government plays a critical role in improving the population’s perception of corruption. Furthermore, e-government appears to have an effect in the short run. Notably, the estimation results show that there is a nonlinear relationship between e-government, especially user centricity and key enablers and the corruption perception index in the U-shaped curve. Practical implications The short-run and nonlinear effects of e-government on corruption prevalence suggest that the fight against corruption requires countries to pursue a consistent and continuous improvement and development of the e-government system. Originality/value The authors contribute to the literature by providing a consistent and precise answer to this relationship in the case of European countries. Another contribution of the work is to use diverse indicators to reflect e-government in a typical country, which helps us confirm the reliability and robustness of the findings.

Causal analysis of SDG achievements

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set common targets for countries all over the world for their economy and society. This research uses popular indices as antecedents (independent variables) to analyze the causal complexity of SDG achievements (outcome or dependent variable). For the antecedents, Inclusive Internet Index measures digital technology, Corruption Perception Index measures transparency and integrity, Global Innovation Index measures innovation, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor measures entrepreneurship, GDP measures economic growth, and Global Findex measures financial technology (fintech). It takes fuzzy set/Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as the research method and applies it to data spanning the years 2020 (30 common countries) and 2021 (28 common countries), respectively. The results show multiple relationships for both 2020 and 2021, and each relationship consists of multiple antecedents. In addition, the causal relationships of the two calendar years appear similar. Implications are discussed herein, and following the research results, countries with different competitive advantages can choose the proper causal relationship to facilitate their own SDG achievements.