Corruption, Structural Reforms, and Economic Performance in the Transition Economies

IMF Working Papers, July 1, 2000

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Corruption, Structural Reforms, and Economic Performance in the Transition Economies

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Bibliographic details

• Authors: George T. Abed, Hamid R Davoodi
• Published: July 1, 2000
• Series: IMF Working Papers
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451855371.001

Summary

• Recent studies have highlighted the adverse impact of corruption on economic performance.
• This paper advances the hypothesis that corruption is largely a symptom of underlying weaknesses in public policies and institutions, a formulation that provides deeper insights into economic performance than do measures of “perceived corruption.”
• The hypothesis is tested by assessing the relative importance of structural reforms vs. corruption in explaining macroeconomic performance in the transition economies.
• The paper finds that for four widely used measures of economic performance—growth, inflation, the fiscal balance, and foreign direct investment—structural reforms tend to dominate the corruption variable.

Major findings and evidence

• Structural reforms have greater explanatory power than corruption for:
  • growth
  • inflation
  • the fiscal balance
  • foreign direct investment
• Corruption is characterized as largely symptomatic of weaknesses in public policies and institutions rather than solely captured by “perceived corruption” measures.

Scope and subject coverage

• Subject tags: Balance of payments, Corruption, Crime, Exchange rate arrangements, Fiscal policy, Fiscal stance, Foreign direct investment, Foreign exchange, Macrostructural analysis, Structural reforms
• Keywords: Corruption, exchange rate, Exchange rate arrangements, Fiscal stance, Foreign direct investment, GDP growth, inflation rate, priori country classification, reform index, reforming country, structural reform, structural reforms, transition economies, transition economy, wage inflation, WP

Access and formats

• Format mentioned: PDF
• Citation example provided in Chicago format: George T. Abed, and Hamid R Davoodi. "Corruption, Structural Reforms, and Economic Performance in the Transition Economies", IMF Working Papers 2000, 132 (2000), accessed 9/17/2026, https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451855371.001

IMF Working Paper (Working Paper No. 2000/132), George T. Abed and Hamid R Davoodi.

Content in this bundle

• Corruption, Structural Reforms, and Economic Performance in the Transition Economies - WP/00/132
  • Corruption, Structural Reforms, and Economic Performance in the Transition Economies - WP/00/132 (Markdown version)
  • Corruption, Structural Reforms, and Economic Performance in the Transition Economies - WP/00/132 (PDF)