Domain: Corruption and Governance Quality
How corruption affects economic development, foreign investment, public service delivery, and institutional trust
Temporal scope: 1995-present | Population: Countries worldwide
Key Findings
- Corruption is negatively associated with GDP growth rate, with approximately 0.5 percentage point decrease in growth per standard deviation increase in corruption index (negative, moderate)
- High corruption reduces FDI inflows by an amount equivalent to raising the tax rate by more than 20 percentage points, demonstrating corruption acts as a significant tax on foreign investment (negative, strong)
- Government effectiveness is positively associated with public service delivery quality across all country income groups, with stronger effects in developing countries (positive, strong)
- Regulatory quality is positively associated with new business formation rates and private sector development indicators across countries (positive, moderate)