Decentralization and CorruptionScientific Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - General and Comparisons, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Institut für Politikwissenschaft), language: English, abstract: Corruption is one of the most widespread political problems throughout the world. Decentralization, in contrast, is considered by many to be one of the most helpful ways to improve a country's economic performance. Nevertheless, only recently have scholars began to look at a possible linkage between the level of decentralization in a country and its level of corruption. Up to now, theoretical insights and empirical evidence in this emerging debate remain both rare and highly contested. This paper aims at contributing to the debate in two ways. On the one hand through challenging and developing several arguments speaking for and against a possible causal relationship between decentralization and corruption; and on the other hand through testing the decentralization-corruption-hypothesis empirically using four different measurements of decentralization. Both parts aim at answering the following question: Is there a causal relationship between a country's level of decentralization and its level of corruption? |
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56 countries accessed accountability administrative decentralization administrative dimension analysis and/or arguments average Comparative control variables correlation between decentralization Corruption Perception Index data set decentralization and corruption decentralization scores Defining definitions Description detail dimension of decentralization display dummy variable elections empirical existence expect FH CL FH PR fiscal fiscal dimension Fisman and Gatti four decentralization FRAC Freedom House furthermore Gross included increase indicators influential interjurisdictional competition issues Italy jurisdictions lead level of corruption level of decentralization levels of government living lower levels meaning measures namely negative correlation nevertheless observe OECD officials otherwise percentage Perception Index scores political decentralization political dimension positive correlation problems PROT published question Range recoded regard regard to political Schneider 2003 scholars slight slightly sources square Standard deviation subnational Summary statistics Table taken takes the value term testing theoretical three dimensions Treisman variable that takes