The effect of education and macroeconomic variables on corruption index in G20 member countries

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of several macroeconomic variables consisting of gross domestic products (GDP) per capita, economic openness, government effectiveness index, inflation, and the level of education on the corruption index in G20 member countries. This study focused on the effect of education on the level of corruption in the G20 member countries by treating other macroeconomic variables as control variables that were not analyzed in depth. This research used mixed methods with multiple regression with two stage least square (2SLS) estimation method followed by phenomenological analysis. This study found that primary education enrolment and the lifelong learning index did not significantly influence the level of corruption for all G20 member countries, developed member countries, and developing member countries. Secondary education enrolment showed a negative and significant influence on the level of corruption in all categories of countries (all members, developing, and developed countries). Tertiary education enrolment had a negative and significant influence on the level of corruption in all members and developing countries, but had a positive influence in the developed countries. GDP per capita had a contrasting influence: negative and significant influence in the developed countries, but positive and significant influence in the developing countries. Similar to secondary education, the government effectiveness index had a negative and significant influence in all categories of countries (all members, developing, and developed countries). In contrast, inflation and economic openness had a positive and significant influence on the level of corruption, but only in developing countries. The policy implication of this study is the prioritization of secondary education to tackle corruption problems.