Corruption and economic development in energy-rich economies

Comparative Economic Studies, June, 2009 by Yelena Kalyuzhnova, Ali M. Kutan, Taner Yigit

PRIMX: Primary exports (percentage of merchandise exports). Source: The World Bank, http://publications.worldbank.org/ subscriptions/WDI/old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

OILPR: Dummy variable for proved oil reserves--Generally taken to be those quantities that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions (equals 1 when oil reserves > 0.2% of world total reserves and 0 otherwise).

Control variables

OPEN: Openness--the sum of merchandise exports and imports divided by the value of GDP, in % (all in current US$) Source: The World Bank, http://publications.worldbank.org/subscrip tions/WDI/old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

GDPPC: GDP per capita. Source: The World Bank, http://publications. worldbank.org/subscriptions/WDI/old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

GDPPCG: GDP per capita growth. Source: The World Bank, http:// publications.worldbank.org/subscriptions/WDI/old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

DEMOCRACY: Democracy index--The Economist Intelligence Unit's democracy index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Source: Laza Kekic, The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy, Economist Intelligence Unit 2006, http://www.economist. com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_lNDEX_2007_v3.pdf, accessed 18 May 2007.

GOVERNMENT: General government final consumption expenditure as percentage of GDP. Source: The World Bank, http://publications. worldbank.org/subscriptions/WDI/old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

ECONFR: Economic freedom--ranking based on economic theory and empirical study. It identifies the variables that comprise economic freedom and analyses the interaction of freedom with wealth. Source: The Heritage Foundation, Index of Economic Freedom 2007, http://www.heritage.org/research/ features/index/countries.cfm?sortby=country.

BUSINESS: Ease of doing business index is calculated as the ranking on the simple average of country percentile rankings on each of the 10 topics covered in WB 'Doing business' database. Source: The World Bank, http://publications.worldbank.org/ subscriptions/WDI/old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

EXDEBT: External debt--debt in US$. Source: The World Bank, http:// publications.worldbank.org/subscriptions/WDI/old-default. htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment Net Inflows (percentage of GDP). Source: The World Bank, http://publications.worldbank.org/ subscriptions/WDI/old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

ROAD: Roads, paved (percentage of total roads). Source: The World Bank, http://publications.worldbank.org/subscriptions/WDI/ old-default.htm, accessed 18 May 2007.

EDUCATION: Initial schooling enrolment secondary % to gross. Source: World Development Indicators, http://publications.worldbank. org/WDI/.

REFERENCES

Aghion, P and Howitt, P. 1992: A model of growth through creative destruction. Econometrica 60: 323-351.

Aidt, T. 2003: Economic analysis of corruption: A survey. The Economic Journal 113: 632-652.

Aidt, T, Dutta, J. and Sena, V. 2008: Governance regimes, corruption and growth: Theory and evidence. Journal of Comparative Economics 36, 195-220.