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How long does it take for government decentralization to affect corruption?

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  • Nadia Fiorino
  • Emma Galli
  • Fabio Padovano
Abstract
Are countries with more decentralized fiscal and spending powers characterized by a lower level of corruption? Do changes in the degree of decentralization of such powers affect the level of corruption? If so, with which delay? This paper innovates on the previous literature, which relies mainly on cross sections of countries, by analyzing a pool of 24 countries for the time interval 1995–2007. The answer to both questions is positive and the estimated average delay is 3 years. The results appear robust to changes of the estimation techniques, of the indicators of corruption, of decentralization and of a variety of controlling factors. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Nadia Fiorino & Emma Galli & Fabio Padovano, 2015. "How long does it take for government decentralization to affect corruption?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 273-305, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ecogov:v:16:y:2015:i:3:p:273-305
    DOI: 10.1007/s10101-015-0156-y
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    3. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Wei, Zuobao & Zhu, Yicheng, 2023. "Does public corruption affect analyst forecast quality?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    4. Graziella Bonanno & Lucia Errico & Nadia Fiorino & Roberto Ricciuti, 2024. "The Impact of Government Size on Corruption: A Meta-Regression Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 10956, CESifo.
    5. Maria Rosaria Alfano & Anna Laura Baraldi & Claudia Cantabene, 2019. "The Effect of Fiscal Decentralization on Corruption: A Non‐linear Hypothesis," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(1), pages 105-128, February.
    6. Hongkang Xu & Mai Dao & Jia Wu, 2019. "The effect of local political corruption on earnings quality," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 551-574, August.
    7. Joan Rosselló Villalonga, 2018. "Fiscal centralization: a remedy for corruption?," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 457-474, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Decentralization; Corruption; Evolution in time ; Common pool; Fiscal autonomy; H11; H53; H77;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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