Government corruption and Internet access diffusion: global evidence

Abstract

Resumo Este artigo investiga as relações entre difusão da internet, voz e accountability, dimensão cultural, corrupção e eficácia governamental, por meio de análise entre países realizada com 117 nações no período de 2000 a 2014. Adotando a técnica de Análise Robusta de Caminho para a análise de dados, conclui-se que, independentemente dos efeitos das variáveis de controle, a difusão da internet promove menores níveis de corrupção governamental, uma relação que ocorre direta e indiretamente via mediação de voz e accountability, que, por sua vez, apresenta forte correlação com a corrupção governamental. A título de contribuição teórica, reforça-se a compreensão de que a internet constitui uma importante ferramenta de combate à corrupção, além de evidenciar o papel moderador da dimensão cultural na relação entre voz e accountability e corrupção governamental e, sobretudo, de incorporar a eficácia governamental ao modelo teórico.

Factors influencing political corruption. An empirical research study of regional governments

“…In terms of public spending, we followed previous research in selecting the following variables: Total public spending, Current spending and Investment spending. Evidence has been reported of a positive relationship with the level of corruption, which is in line with Public Choice Theory, according to which the greater the volume of managed resources, the greater the possibilities for and benefits from corrupt behaviour (Bernardes do Nascimento et al, 2019;Corrado and Rossetti, 2018;Fisman and Gatti, 2002). Similarly, the Budget balance and the Cash surplus might also bear a positive relationship with political corruption (Alcaraz-Quiles et al, 2020;Rodriguez Bolivar et al, 2018) and were selected for analysis.…”

“…Economic and financial factors. Previous studies have reported evidence of a nonconclusive relationship between national economic growth and perceived levels of corruption (Bernardes do Nascimento et al, 2019;Chen and Neshkova, 2020;Corrado and Rossetti, 2018;Rodriguez Bolivar et al, 2018). A positive association would be congruent with the postulates of Public Choice Theory, since a greater availability of resources might increase the possibility of obtaining personal benefits through fraudulent behaviour.…”

“…The impact of political corruption on national development is a major problem worldwide, often producing severe economic damage. Accordingly, it has been the subject of numerous studies in many countries (Bernardes do Nascimento et al, 2019; Chabova, 2017; Guillamon et al, 2021; Jetter and Parmeter, 2018).…”

“…Specifically, research findings show that high levels of corruption in the public sector can hamper economic development (Billger and Goel, 2009; Goel and Nelson, 2010), reduce foreign investment and aggravate the fiscal deficit (Bernardes do Nascimento et al, 2019; Guillamon et al, 2021). Thus, the widespread existence of fraud and bribery justifies the timeliness and interest of investigating how political corruption in the public sector may best be combated.…”

“…Other studies have researched the relationship between the level of political corruption and various explanatory factors: (a) economic and financial (Benito et al, 2018; Lopez-Iturriaga and Sanz, 2018); (b) political (Kotera et al, 2012); and (c) socioeconomic (Bernardes do Nascimento et al, 2019; Jetter and Parmeter, 2018).…”