Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

Corruption and economic growth: does the size of the government matter?

2021; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 55; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s10644-021-09338-4

ISSN

1574-0277

Autores

António Afonso, Eduardo de Sá Fortes Leitão Rodrigues,

Tópico(s)

Economic Growth and Development

Resumo

Corruption is often a source of contentious debate, covering different areas of knowledge, such as philosophy and sociology. In this paper we assess the effects of corruption on economic activity and highlight the relevance of the size of the government. We use dynamic models and the generalised method of moments approach for a panel of 48 countries, and as a measure of corruption the Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, from 2012 to 2019. We find a significant adverse effect of corruption on the level and growth of GDP per capita, but that large governments benefit less from reducing corruption. Furthermore, developing economies, regardless of government size, benefit less from reducing corruption, while government size is not sufficient to explain the influence of corruption on economic activity, although the level of effectiveness of public services is crucial. Finally, our findings suggest that private investment is a potential transmission channel for corruption.

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