Lower Levels Of Corruption Research Articles

Coal combustion emission and corruption in ASEAN: Does government integrity plays moderation role?

Coal energy is a cheap and abundant source of electricity in ASEAN. Despite this, the reality of CO2 emissions from coal gets a red report card on the issue of climate change. In terms of the institutional economy, corruption is the main enemy in the issue of environmental pollution; the cleaner government agencies, the lower the environmental pollution. In particular, the research aims to find out the moderating effect of government integrity concerning corruption and CO2 emissions from coal in ASEAN. But to help construct the analysis, the paper also previously looked into the relationship between corruption and CO2 emissions from coal and found out whether economic development played a mediating effect in that relationship. Using ECM panel analysis with a sample of 9 ASEAN member states, the paper found that: (1) In the long and short term, the lower level of corruption will reduce CO2 emissions from coal. (2) FDI plays a mediating effect between corruption and CO2 emissions from coal. The scheme is that the lower the level of corruption, the FDI will decrease and reduce CO2 emissions. (3) Government integrity strengthens the relationship between corruption and CO2 emissions from coal, meaning that the more honest and non-corrupt the government will have an effect that can strengthen the relationship between corruption and CO2 emissions from coal. This study recommends that the government in ASEAN member states should be keeping public trust because it will decrease the level of corruption and can save climate change in the future.

Educational attainment, corruption, and migration: An empirical analysis from a gravity model

Previous research shows that migrants generally select countries with relatively low levels of corruption. This study explores the interaction between the corruption level of origin and destination countries and migrants’ level of education. Using a panel dataset from 1990 to 2000 and a modified gravity model, we estimate the effect of education level on global migration decisions. Consistent with other studies, we confirm that countries with low levels of corruption attract more migrants. We add to this finding by showing that migrants with higher levels of education are more sensitive to corruption levels at destination countries. In particular, migrants with higher levels of education are more likely to choose less corrupt countries. Our findings enhance our understanding of factors influencing human capital mobility across borders.

A Smart Governance diffusion model for blockchain as an anti-corruption tool in Smart Cities

Government corruption in Latin America prevents the region’s sustainable development and constitutes a failure of current systems. Governments have started to leverage new technologies to increase transparency and promote integrity within their processes. Among these, blockchain technology has gained traction as a promising tool for Smart Governance due to its unique properties in terms of immutability, trust, coordination, security, and transparency. The use of blockchain within Smart City initiatives is complicated by a lack of diffusion models. This paper develops a diffusion model for blockchain technology after analyzing three case studies and conducting a survey of thirty blockchain start-up leads across Latin America. The final model, named Smart Governance BT diffusion model, conceptualizes the diffusion of blockchain as a gradual process including inputs, a dynamic throughput, and outputs. Relevant for academics and government representatives alike, the model aims at improving the conceptual understanding of technology diffusion in Smart Cities and highlights the potential of blockchain as a mitigator of vulnerabilities to corruption. As initial conditions matter for its successful adoption and diffusion, it is recommended for Latin American governments to (1) redesign and digitalize their processes and legislation, (2) conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis for specific use cases, and (3) reduce inefficiencies in areas with relatively medium to low levels of historical corruption in a first instance. The model can be tested and refined in future research and can be applied to any Smart City initiative requiring conceptualization.

Trust or Power: Improving Tax Compliance by Self-Employed Professionals

This article considers non-compliance with tax legislation by self-employed professionals, using qualitative data on the tax compliance attitudes of lawyers and dentists in Kenya. The main argument is that corruption and inadequate service delivery, over which the revenue authority has no control, lower tax morale and limit the effectiveness of trust in the authority in increasing voluntary compliance. It is further argued that, under such circumstances, stringent detection and enforcement measures would be more helpful in enhancing these taxpayers’ compliance. This research contributes to the literature on the slippery slope framework on trust and power; most of the empirical work on the framework derives from countries with lower levels of corruption and better public service delivery than most African countries. Thus, this article enhances the understanding of the relationship between trust and power in the context of tax compliance among professionals in Kenya and provides some beneficial insight that may be relevant for other African countries. Tax evasion, trust, power, corruption, tax administration, audits, cooperative compliance, slippery slope framework, Kenya, Africa

Societal Accountability and Grand Corruption: How Institutions Shape Citizens’ Efforts to Shape Institutions

That civil society activism can strengthen accountability and limit government corruption is theoretically compelling and popular in policy circles. Whether civic engagement can limit grand corruption, and if so in what types of settings, remains an open question. This paper presents the first large-N study of societal accountability with respect to grand corruption. Using objective indicators of procurement corruption from 173 EU regions, the study finds that civil society strength is associated with lower levels of corruption but that the association is not monotonic. Civil society strength seems to constrain procurement corruption where accountability conditions are the least favorable. Where accountability conditions are well-functioning, we find no evidence that societal accountability constrains corruption. The findings help to adjudicate between competing expectations from research on horizontal and societal accountability. Moreover, they confirm that societal accountability can complement horizontal accountability where institutional conditions function sub-optimally, even limiting grand corruption.

The impact of socioeconomic, political and institutional factors on countries' logistic performance

This research aims to measure the impact of socioeconomic, political and institutional factors pointed out in the international literature on the efficiency and performance of countries' logistic services. To that end, were used correlation analysis, cluster analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The new configuration of logistic efficiency in countries obtained brings Iceland, Hong Kong, Switzerland, New Zealand and Luxembourg among the ten most efficient countries in logistics, in contrast with what was pointed out by the LPI. The main disagreement in the DEA and LPI rankings clearly concerns Iceland, which is far more efficient using the DEA methodology (in all models). This difference can be attributed to the level of infrastructure development, as well as Iceland's strong institutional structure, information technology, skilled labour, high degree of economic freedom, solid democracy and low levels of corruption. This fundamentally points to the role that the factors included in the DEA model play in measuring countries' logistic efficiency. Therefore, this study contributes in expanding theoretical literature on the subject, as well as suggesting a methodology to measure efficiency that objectively presents the relative importance of its determinants.

Tackling corruption in the health sector

Corruption in the health sector is unique because it includes abuse by public officials and unscrupulous behavior by other actors (drug manufacturers, health professionals, patients, etc.). The urgency of solving the scientific problem lies in the fact that financial relations in the medical field arise between a wide range of persons who can act as initiators of corruption decisions and/or their executors. The study’s main goal is to analyze the forms of corruption in the healthcare system and their consequences for society, as well as to assess the degree of interrelationship between the level of corruption and indicators of financial support in the healthcare sector. The methods of structural and comparative bibliometric analysis and correlation analysis became the methodical tools of the conducted research. The object of research is 140 countries in the world. The conducted bibliometric analysis testified to the permanent growth of the study of the issue of corruption in medicine in the scientific environment. Scientists from the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany have implemented the largest number of works on a certain topic. The conducted correlation analysis also empirically confirmed that an increase in the level of corruption in the country leads to an increase in the share of household expenses for financing their own medical needs. The article founds that the population in countries with a low level of corruption (the corruption promotion index is closer to 100) has a higher level of provision of vital medical services (reproductive health, health of women, newborns, and children, infectious diseases, non-infectious diseases and opportunities provision of services and access to them). Countries with a high level of anti-corruption and coverage of medical services include Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Great Britain. The results of the research can be useful for state regulatory bodies, specialized organizations in the field of health care, as well as public organizations.

Clustering of the European Union member states based on money laundering measuring indices

The number of enforcement actions and fines for non-compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations continues climbing year after year, and the year 2021 was no exception to this tendency. Globally, authorities remain harsh, and AML fines in Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom have been increasing (Global Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, 2021). According to the UN estimations, the amount of money annually laundered worldwide amounts to 2–5% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or in absolute numbers - to 800 billion-2 trillion US dollars. Such high figures indicate that national governments are indeed facing a serious problem of money laundering. In this article, clustering is employed to group the EU member states by their money laundering measuring indices in order to assess the EU legal framework in terms of money laundering prevention. State clustering could help the relevant EU institutions, such as Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), Europol, International Monetary Fund (IMF), national governments and others, to develop the most effective measures to diminish the problem of money laundering and to complement their regulatory framework. Money laundering is usually associated with criminal activities that generate large amounts of illegal financial resources. In the most general sense, money laundering refers to the process of disguising the true origin, ownership, disposal and movement of particular proceeds, property or property rights. The results of the empirical research propose that money laundering reduction calls for a higher number of suspicious transaction reports (STRs), lower levels of corruption and improvement of the legal framework in terms of money laundering prevention in the EU. The research methods cover comparative and systematic literature analysis, and hierarchical cluster analysis. The cluster analysis of the EU member states (28 countries) uses the number of reports filled with FIU between 2006-2014, the 2012-2020 Basel AML Index and the 1998-2018 CPI data.

Corrupting Ecologically Unequal Exchange? India and Forest Loss in a Cross-National Perspective

Drawing on ecologically unequal exchange theory and previous cross-national research, the authors assess whether wood exports from peripheral nations to India are related to increased forest loss in the exporting nations. The authors also build on this perspective by assessing if corruption interacts with the ecologically unequal exchange of wood exports to India. In this regard, the authors hypothesize that corruption creates an “institutional context” whereby bribes, kickbacks, and embezzlement by government officials translate into the prioritization of consumptive practices in the short term rather than advocating for long-term investments such as conservation. Toward this end, the authors expect that wood exports to India increase forest loss more in peripheral nations with higher rather than lower levels of corruption. The authors find support for this hypothesis using ordinary least squares regression for a sample of 67 low- and middle-income nations. The authors conclude by discussing the theoretical, methodological, and policy implications that follow from the interaction finding.

Investigation of the relationship between the levels of public trust and corruption: A topological model and statistical methods

The article analyzes the concepts of "trust" and "corruption of society" and explores the interdependence between them using the international indexes Edelman Trust Barometer (ETB) and Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The research methods are: 1) the topological model proposed by the authors, based on the averaged values of these indices; 2) correlation and regression analysis; 3) interval method (studying the dependence on the selected intervals of the averaged values of ETB and CPI). The topological model uses data on the values of these indices for 28 countries and was developed in two versions for the time periods (2011–2021) and (2013–2019). In both cases, the model gives a similar picture of the points placement on the coordinate plane, which indicates the stability of the results. A comparison of empirical data over the time periods revealed countries with a relatively stable ratio of ETB and CPI indices (Germany, Indonesia, Canada, Colombia, France) and countries where this ratio is noticeably changing (Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands). The analysis of the topological model was carried out and zones of low, medium and high levels of corruption were identified. Zones are characterized by a specific type of relationship between ETB and CPI indices. The general type of dependence of the level of trust on corruption in the form of a horizontal S-shaped curve is approximately determined. Regression analysis using time series data for 28 countries was performed. Statistically significant linear regression equations (reflecting the relationship between the considered economic categories) were obtained for some countries (the Netherland, Sweden and Japan). The conclusion about the significant nonlinearity of the studied relationship is made. This is evidenced by both the visual analysis of the topological model and the results of regression analysis conducted for the selected intervals of change values of the ETB and CPI indexes.

Youth Participation in Community Development in Eastern Uganda

The study investigated youth participation in community development in Eastern Uganda. Specifically, the study assessed youth awareness of their need to participate in annual planning, budgeting processes and decision making in the development of their communities, and the obstacles that hinder their participation in the development of their communities. The study employed descriptive survey design, and 305 respondents. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were the main instruments used for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and linear regression. The study revealed that the youth were no aware of their need to participate in the annual planning, budgeting processes and decision making. Furthermore, the factors that hindered their participation in community development included among others lack of information, bureaucracy, low level of education, political affiliation, corruption, gender inequality, and poverty. The study further revealed that there is a positive and significant effect of youth participation on community development (adjusted R2 = .363, p = 0.000). The study recommended that leaders must purposefully engage young people to participate in maters that directly affect them during the planning and budgeting process, and a variety of strategies, including capacity building and education, can help increase youth participation

How Economic, Political and Institutional Factors Influence the Choice of Exchange Rate Regimes? New Evidence from Selected Countries of the MENA Region

In this paper, we investigate how economic, political, and institutional factors affect the choice of exchange rate regimes using data on eight Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries over the 1984-2016 period. Specifically, we run random-effects ordered probit regressions of the likelihood of exchange rate regimes on the potential determinants of exchange rate regimes. Three important findings emerge from the analysis. The first finding is that political and institutional factors play an important role in determining the exchange rate regime in MENA countries, where a democratic political regime and a low level of corruption increase the probability of opting for a fixed regime, while strong governments, political stability (such as less internal conflicts and more government stability), more law and order enforcement, and a left-wing government decrease the probability of opting for a fixed regime. The second finding is that bureaucracy, independent central banks, elections, terms of trade, and monetary independence have no effect on the choice of exchange rate regimes. The third finding is that financial development is not a robust determinant of the choice of exchange rate regimes. Our results still hold when considering alternative specifications, and they have important implications for policymakers in MENA countries

BUSINESS ETHICS. CORRUPTION PERCEPTION ANALYSIS

This paper examines corruption from the perspective of business ethics. It is known that corruption negatively affects the development of countries in several ways: it reduces growth, chases away foreign investors and channels investments, loans and aid funds, the so-called White Elephant Projects. Corruption has a very high price for the poorest, who are denied access to basic goods and services, and this paper shows that the poor suffer the most from corruption. Based on the annual index provided by Transparency International, it can be observed that, in general, some of the richest countries in the world (like: Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Iceland, Singapore and Sweden) consistently record a low level of corruption.

Do economic growth and institutional quality reduce poverty and inequality in West Africa?

Over the past two decades, the West African region has experienced much faster economic growth than other parts of the world. However, despite this economic upturn, the region has continued to experience high levels of inequality and poverty, yet economic growth is considered to be one of the main drivers of poverty reduction. An interesting literature indicates that local conditions may limit the expected effects of economic growth on poverty and income inequality. In this study, we are interested in the role of institutional factors that have been largely ignored in explaining poverty reduction and inequality outcomes in this region. Thus, this study empirically examines the role of economic growth and institutional quality on inequality and poverty reduction in West Africa. Using data from the World Development Indicators (WDI), the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID), our results show that economic growth remains a necessary condition for poverty reduction and that the overall improvement in the quality of institutions contributes significantly to reducing poverty and income inequality in the long term. This contribution is made in particular through the improvement of democratic institutions, the alleviation of bureaucratic constraints, the quality of the judicial and regulatory system, the control of corruption and the quality of government stability. Furthermore, we show that improvements in the judicial system, low levels of corruption and better bureaucratic quality happen to be prerequisites for economic growth to significantly reduce income inequality. These results therefore call on policy makers in the West African region to improve their institutional framework and especially these dimensions with a view to enabling the region citizens to improve their living conditions.

Confucian Democracy in East Asia: A Discussion of Sungmoon Kim’s Democracy After Virtue: Toward Pragmatic Confucian Democracy

Confucian Democracy in East Asia: A Discussion of Sungmoon Kim’s <i>Democracy After Virtue: Toward Pragmatic Confucian Democracy</i>

The Demographic Window of Opportunity and Economic Growth at Sub-National Level in 91 Developing Countries

Data for low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) are used to investigate the effect of the demographic transition on economic growth at sub-national level. We introduce a detailed classification of demographic window phases, determine how these phases are distributed among and within LMICs, and analyze the relationship between the demographic window of opportunity (DWO) and economic growth for 1921 urban and rural areas of sub-national regions within 91 LMICs. Many areas in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have entered the window, but most of Sub-Saharan Africa is still in the traditional or pre-window phase. Our analyses reveal higher growth rates in areas passing through the DWO. Positive growth effects are particularly strong in rural and more educated regions and in countries with lower levels of corruption. Policy measures aimed at effectively using the DW for achieving growth should combine investments in education and rural development with better governance.

Institutional voids, liability of origin, and presence of women in TMT of emerging market multinationals

This study examines the association between the pervasiveness of institutional voids in emerging markets and the inclusion of women in top management teams (TMTs) by emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) as a legitimation strategy. Leveraging institutional theory, we argue that EMNCs increase women presence in TMTs as a legitimation strategy to overcome the challenges of stakeholders' skepticism in foreign markets by disassociating themselves from the image of their home markets. Using a subsidiary level dataset of 1047 EMNCs from 26 emerging countries between 2009 and 2018, we find robust evidence indicating that the pervasiveness of institutional voids at home is positively related to the percentage of women in TMT's EMNCs' foreign units. This effect is particularly stronger for firms operating in countries with high institutional gender parity and low level of corruption.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA: A DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS

This study aims to identify the status of Saudi Arabia as a destination for FDI, the factors that attract FDI into Saudi Arabia, and the factors that hinder the flow of FDI into Saudi Arabia. The study covers a period of five years from 2015 to 2019. The study analysis various determinants of FDI: market size, infrastructure, technology adoption, innovation friendliness, productive and diversified labor force, financial infrastructure, taxation, political risk, corruption, and ease of doing business. The study finds that several factors like market size, well-developed infrastructure, a higher degree of technology adoption, innovation-friendliness, the banking system that is well-capitalized and liquid, low corporate taxes, political stability, low transfer risk, low expropriation risk, low levels of corruption, and a stable currency make Saudi Arabia an attractive destination for FDI. At the same time, the low labor market efficiency and the low ranking in ease of doing business makes it less attractive to FDI.

Bidding despite corruption: evidence from Honduras

PurposeIn addition to lower value for money and the loss of trust in government, procurement corruption threatens to produce a vicious cycle whereby honest firms self-select out of public procurements, further increasing corruption and decreasing value for money. This paper aims to explore this vicious cycle hypothesis.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a survey of businesses registered with the procurement regulator in Honduras, a country with high grand corruption but low levels of administrative procurement corruption. The study uses the survey to test the effects of experiences and perceptions of corruption and personal connections on perceptions of fairness and intention to bid on future procurements.FindingsThis study finds that experiences with bribery and the perceived importance of personal and party connections undermine perceptions of fairness, particularly for firms bidding with Honduras’s public works agency. While firms that have not bid recently view the process as less merit-based than those that have, the study does not find that perceptions of fairness influence intention to bid in the future as the vicious cycle hypothesis would suggest.Social implicationsThis research suggests that even firms that are frustrated with procurement irregularities are willing to tolerate them to access government markets.Originality/valueThe study benefits from a unique survey of businesses on issues of corruption and connections in a challenging procurement environment.

The corruption and income inequality puzzle: Does political power distribution matter?

The literature on income inequality outcomes of corruption is so far inconclusive. The counter-intuitive idea that corruption may reduce income inequalities and increase social welfare challenges the conventional view of the harmful impact of corruption on income distribution. This paper provides new insights into the corruption-income inequality nexus by emphasizing the role of political power distribution. We find that lower levels of corruption are associated with reduced inequalities at the world level regardless of corruption types. However, a closer look reveals that the counter-intuitive relationship holds only in developing countries due to the uneven distribution of political power. In such countries, income inequalities decline as corruption rises because the uneven distribution of political power leads non-dominant groups to engage in corruption to access public services they are entitled to or get credits to support their income-generating activities.