The main causes of corruption in Romania

Corruption is a mass phenomenon which can be almost harmless in small doses, but is able to undermine a country’s national economy once it is out of control, generating chaos and, in extreme cases, even civil wars. The phenomenon exists in all countries and all kinds of management regimes (democracy, totalitarism, etc.). In Romania, corruption is caused by the low standard of living (compared with citizens of West-European countries), but also by the general mentality of people, which prove to be quite permissive and at large with the existence of the phenomenon. This research aimed at analysing the main causes underlying corruption. Since the phenomenon is quite complex, a set of heterogeneous variables was chosen (GDP per capita, the percentage of people who have at least a high school education of the total population of each county, the share of employees in the public sector in total employment, the average time of a trial and the average jail time) that can depict the phenomenon, and especially its evolution over time. Such an analysis was conducted in all counties of Romania, Bucharest also being added for comparability reasons and due to some specific features. Finally, the whole scientific approach was organized in the form of a table that categorizes each territorial unit in an area of higher or lower risk level in terms of corruption size.