The impact of various socioeconomic and macroeconomic variables on perceived corruption: A panel data analysis for the Europen OECD countries

The aim of this study are to investigate the determinants of corruption, to test it empirically using a model that relates the economic and social determinants of corruption such as income inequality, GDP per capita, HDI-human development index, government final consumption expenditure and Tax on goods and services with the perception of corruption for European countries which are also Members of the OECD. In our empirical research we use a panel data approach – with a fixed effect model – that we estimate with the Eviews software. The empirical findings of this paper suggest that income inequality, GDP per capita, HDI, public expenditure and tax on goods and services are statistically significant determinants of corruption. With this estimation, we find out that GDP per capita, human development index and taxes on goods and services, ceteris paribus, have negative effects on corruption and that income inequality and general government final consumption expenditure have positive effects on it.