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Live free or bribe: On the causal dynamics between economic freedom and corruption in U.S. states

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  • Apergis, Nicholas
  • Dincer, Oguzhan C.
  • Payne, James E.

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between economic freedom and corruption using data from U.S. states covering almost a quarter of a century. Our study advances the existing literature on several fronts. First, instead of using subjective cross-country corruption indices assembled by various investment risk services, we use a more objective measure of corruption: the number of government officials convicted in a state for crimes related to corruption. Second, unlike previous studies, we exploit both time series and cross-sectional variation in the data in the estimation of a panel error correction model. The panel error correction model results show that in the long-run economic freedom, per capita income, and education have a negative and statistically significant impact on corruption whereas income inequality has a positive and statistically significant impact. The causality tests associated with the panel error correction model reveal bidirectional causality between economic freedom and corruption in both the short-run and long-run.

Suggested Citation

  • Apergis, Nicholas & Dincer, Oguzhan C. & Payne, James E., 2012. "Live free or bribe: On the causal dynamics between economic freedom and corruption in U.S. states," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 215-226.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:28:y:2012:i:2:p:215-226
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2011.10.001
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    1. Steven Yamarik & Chelsea Redmon, 2017. "Economic Freedom and Corruption: New Cross-Country Panel Data Evidence," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 32(Summer 20), pages 17-44.
    2. Larissa Batrancea & Anca Nichita & Ioan Batrancea & Lucian Gaban, 2018. "The Strenght of the Relationship Between Shadow Economy and Corruption: Evidence from a Worldwide Country-Sample," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 1119-1143, August.
    3. Bjørnskov, Christian, 2015. "Does economic freedom really kill? On the association between ‘Neoliberal’ policies and homicide rates," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 207-219.
    4. Sanchari Choudhury, 2021. "Regulation and Corruption: Evidence from the United States," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(4), pages 897-934, August.
    5. Filippidis, Michail & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis, 2021. "Energy poverty through the lens of the energy-environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    6. James E. Payne & James W. Saunoris & Saban Nazlioglu & Cagin Karul, 2023. "The convergence dynamics of economic freedom across U.S. states," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(4), pages 1216-1241, April.
    7. Zachary D. Blizard, 2023. "The Interaction Effect of Economic Freedom and Economic Development on Corruption in US States," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 38(Summer 20), pages 17-37.
    8. Gropper, Daniel M. & Jahera, John S. & Park, Jung Chul, 2015. "Political power, economic freedom and Congress: Effects on bank performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 76-92.
    9. Choudhury, Sanchari, 2023. "The causal effect of regulation on income inequality across the U.S. states," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Joshua C. Hall & Dean Stansel & Danko Tarabar, 2015. "Economic Freedom Studies at the State Level: A Survey," Working Papers 15-07, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    11. Pieroni, L. & d'Agostino, G., 2013. "Corruption and the effects of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 54-72.
    12. Compton, Ryan A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Hoover, Gary A., 2014. "A distributional analysis of the benefits of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 121-133.
    13. Diaby, Aboubacar & Sylwester, Kevin, 2014. "Bureaucratic competition and public corruption: Evidence from transition countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 75-87.
    14. Berggren, Niclas & Nilsson, Therese, 2016. "Tolerance in the United States: Does economic freedom transform racial, religious, political and sexual attitudes?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 53-70.
    15. Claudio Detotto & Bryan C. McCannon, 2017. "Economic freedom and public, non-market institutions: evidence from criminal prosecution," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 107-128, May.
    16. Nguyen Ngoc Thach & Bui Hoang Ngoc, 2021. "Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, January.
    17. Zakharov, Nikita, 2019. "Does corruption hinder investment? Evidence from Russian regions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 39-61.
    18. Adam A. Millsap & Bradley K. Hobbs & Dean Stansel, 2019. "Local Governments and Economic Freedom: A Test of the Leviathan Hypothesis," Public Finance Review, , vol. 47(3), pages 493-529, May.
    19. Ryan H Murphy, 2024. "Not following the script: When institutional development is uneven," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 338-352, June.
    20. Lee, Sang Mook & Bazel-Shoham, Ofra & Tarba, Shlomo Y. & Shoham, Amir, 2022. "The effect of economic freedom on board diversity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 833-849.
    21. Bethencourt, Carlos, 2022. "Crime and social expenditure: A political economic approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    22. Dincer, Oguzhan & Gunalp, Burak, 2020. "The effects of federal regulations on corruption in U.S. States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    23. Dutta, Nabamita & Kar, Saibal & Stivers, Adam, 2023. "Does Economic Freedom Moderate Perceived Corruption for Firms in India?," IZA Discussion Papers 16484, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic freedom; Corruption; Panel error correction model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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