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A Review of the Causes and Effects of Corruption in the Economic Analysis

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Organized Crime, Corruption and Crime Prevention

Abstract

This study reviews the economists’ efforts to explain the causes of corruption and its effects on economic performance. It consists of both an updated version of previous surveys and a rapid guide to the main achievements on this topic. Through this review we can appreciate that there is still conflicting evidence on the causality relationships between corruption and several variables such as economic growth, regulation, competition, and public spending, but also on potential beneficial or detrimental effects of corruption.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As noted by Treisman (2007), the growing attraction of corruption studies by economists can be gauged from a quick search of the article database JSTOR.

  2. 2.

    See in particular Aidt (2011) on the problems of causality as well as correlation in the empirical literature.

  3. 3.

    About some measurement indexes of corruption see for instance the Corruption Perceptions Index, the Global Corruption Barometer, and the Bribe Payers Index, all from Transparency International. The Control of Corruption Index by the World Bank, and the Corruption Index by the International Country Risk Guide are other indexes used. About the weaknesses of the measurements of corruption see Lambsdorff (2006).

  4. 4.

    It must be noted that Kaufmann and Wei (2000) contest the empirical validity of this result.

  5. 5.

    About this issue, see in particular La Porta et al. (1997).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Business, Environmental Sciences and Quantitative Methods (SEAM), University of Messina, Via T. Cannizzaro 278, 98122, Messina, Italy

    Maurizio Lisciandra

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  1. Maurizio Lisciandra
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Correspondence to Maurizio Lisciandra .

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  1. TRANSCRIME, U. Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

    Stefano Caneppele

  2. TRANSCRIME, U. Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy

    Francesco Calderoni

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Lisciandra, M. (2014). A Review of the Causes and Effects of Corruption in the Economic Analysis. In: Caneppele, S., Calderoni, F. (eds) Organized Crime, Corruption and Crime Prevention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01839-3_22

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