The changing geopolitical situation in the European region has actualized the issues of further EU enlargement. As a result, the relevance of studying many aspects of the functioning economic systems of candidate countries has increased. In this context, the purpose of this article is to...

When governments have more revenue, they can invest in infrastructure, such as the provision of electricity or clean fuels, which is more effective in well-governed countries. Here, we use an equilibrium correction model to empirically investigate the relationship between government revenue per...

This study analyses the long-term impacts of corruption on economic growth within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, using data spanning 2005 to 2022. Through econometric modelling covering SADC countries, the research investigates the influence of corruption on the...

In contemporary times, energy sustainability and security have become essential economic concerns globally. Nonetheless, in addition to these concerns, inadequate governance inside a corporation within the energy industry may result in corruption and energy instability within the sector. The...

Approximately 42% of European public procurement contracts are awarded to a sole bidder. As this market represents about one-seventh of GDP in developed countries, any inefficiency is a first-order concern. This paper examines a Czech reform that prohibited awarding such single-bid contracts....

This study investigates the impact of U.S. economic sanctions on internal instability and conflict using a global sample. Our analysis, which includes cross-country and panel data from over 120 countries between 1996 and 2022, shows that economic sanctions increase the risk of internal conflict...

Widening income disparities, higher corruption and larger informality in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDE) including Latin America, all with pressing and mounting fiscal problems, have rekindled interest in the empirical analysis of the key factors determining the occurrence...

Being indebted represents significant risks associated with global financial instability in a world where financial stability hangs precariously between debt and economic growth. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) casts a critical eye over countries navigating the perilous seas of fiscal...

In all successful economic societies, trust is a unity factor. By contrast, the absence of trust leads to poor economic performance and negative social implications. In this paper, we uncover the relationships among social trust, corruption, and the duration of economic crises. Our theoretical...

Using household survey data on expenditures and incomes, we construct an objective measure of corruption in the public sector for a broad spectrum of countries. Specifically, we focus on the consumption-income gap for public sector workers relative to private sector workers to gauge the extent...

We develop a novel, scalable method for assessing the quality of public procurement systems using standard administrative data. Our approach compares the distribution of procurement opportunities to the distribution of contract awards across firms. We first derive a simple theoretical benchmark...

We develop a novel, scalable method for assessing the quality of public procurement systems using standard administrative data. Our approach compares the distribution of procurement opportunities to the distribution of contract awards across firms. We first derive a simple theoretical benchmark...

This study examines the complex relations between corruption, income inequality, and sustainable economic development within the European Union (EU) for the 2003-2023 period. Employing panel data for all 27 EU member states, as well as for the subgroups of Old (OMS) and New Member States (NMS),...

Entrepreneurs based in developing nations, as well as in contexts with significant corruption, find significant issues when seeking financing, and this was exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis. Nevertheless, recently developed financial approaches such as international reward-based...

This study investigated the impact of corruption on the persistence of informality across countries, offering new insights into the institutional dynamics that sustain informal economic activities. Drawing on firm-level data from World Bank Enterprise Surveys covering 159 countries, the analysis...

Research background: Balanced state development is impossible without sustainable human development. In turn, corruption has a significant impact on the level of human development, since a high level of corruption leads to an unfair distribution of income and resources and exacerbates inequality...

Electoral accountability is a cornerstone of democratic governance, yet whether voters effectively punish corruption remains theoretically and empirically contested. While canonical models predict that corruption revelations reduce incumbent support, strategic voting considerations-especially...

The objective of this study is to determine how perception of corruption affects the relationship between women's empowerment and gender inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa. To do this, it uses two estimators of the generalized method of moments on a sample of 45 countries between 2002 and 2021. It...

Implementing procurement governance to combat corruption in the public sector is challenging. This study investigates this implementation across several procurement phases. It proposes how governance based on state principles and global recommendations can reduce corruption during the...

Corruption adversely affects all spheres of life, posing a significant threat as an enabler of other crimes. These include terrorism, organized crime, human trafficking, and illegal migration, all of which undermine the European integration process and pose risks not only to Ukraine but also to...

Natural resources are still a critically important input for society's productive capacity. Valorization of the importance of natural resources throughout the history of economic thought shows that their influence on economy is not monotonous and unambiguous. During the last few decades, the...

Corruption is the great disease of government. It undermines the efficiency of the public sector in many countries around the world. We experimentally study civic engagement (CE) as a constraint on corruption when incentives are stacked against providing CE. We show that CE is powerful in...

It has been widely documented that good governance reduces income inequality when it creates a conducive environment for quality human capital development. This study investigates the unconditional effects of human capital on income inequality and explores whether institutional quality...

Scholars and politicians have expressed concern that immigrants from countries with low levels of political trust transfer those attitudes to their destination countries. Using large-scale survey data covering 38 countries and exploiting origin-country variation across different cohorts and...