Effects of subject pool culture and institutional environment on corruption: Experimental evidence from Albania

This research uses experimental methods to investigate whether subject pool culture and institutional environment have an effect on participants’ corrupt behavior in the laboratory. While we find that subject pool culture does not affect the overall magnitude of corruption of laboratory participants, it does affect the likelihood of corruption and its distribution. Additionally, we find that the effect on corrupt behavior differs with the framing of the experiment’s instructions. Interestingly, in the context of a weak rule of law and high levels of corruption, loaded negative instructions positively affect corrupt behavior of firms and public officials. Previous research in the context of a country exhibiting a strong rule of law and low levels of corruption finds no framing effects. We also find that increasing the probability of detection significantly reduces corruption as measured by the amount of the bribes offered/accepted and the probability of offering/accepting a bribe. Finally, we find that individual risk preferences negatively affect the level of corrupt behavior.     

The effects of mega-events on perceived corruption

In recent decades, the media have covered many cases of corruption related to the celebration of mega-events around the globe. In most of these cases, politicians and other high officials are involved. This paper analyses the effect of hosting mega-events on the level of perceived corruption in 34 OECD countries, during 1996–2017. Summer and Winter Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, and Universal Expositions are considered. Results show that, when we take the year of the celebration of the event as the turning point, there is no robust evidence in favour of a positive impact on perceived corruption. However, when we take the election date of the host country as the threshold, the magnitude of the effect is lasting, reaching its maximum value 1–2 years before the celebration itself, and increasing the perceived level of corruption by about 4%.     

The Political Economy of Policy Vacuums: The European Commission on Demographic Change

ABSTRACT

Supranational organisations can only confront politico-economic issues that are recognised as important. Typically, issues gain recognition either when they provide an external shock to the system, shaking political actors into action, or when they are framed as important in policy networks concerned with developing the appropriate scientific approach. Ideally political and scientific actors align in creating pressures to recognise the issue as salient and to mobilise organisational responses. Issues differ in their capacity to be driven by both political and scientific pressures, creating crisis management, technocratic, and reform agenda outcomes. Here we explore a further variation, where pressures around an issue are insufficient, creating a policy vacuum. We examine one such policy vacuum in Europe: demographic change. This issue belongs to no particular Directorate-General in the European Commission, but is subject to policy frames from DG EMPL and DG ECFIN. Without sufficient political and scientific pressures, no particular policy position is occupied and advocated despite recognition of the issue’s importance. We discuss the role of policy vacuums and the need for their identification in political economy research.     

Guest satisfaction in independent and affiliated to chain hotels

In the hotel sector, two basic organisational forms can be distinguished, independent and chain-affiliated, which reflects in the entities' management processes and in the dimensions of the hotel service. Guest satisfaction is the determinant of and the secret to success in the hotel industry, nevertheless the comparison of customer satisfaction of both operational models is scarce. The main goal of this work is to determine whether those differences exist, considering the geographical scope and size of the chain in linked hotels. Customer satisfaction was analysed in 404 four and five-star hotels, measured through the hotel ratings from online travel agent Booking.com, in two tourism destinations in Spain using the Rasch Measurement Theory. Results obtained indicate that the superiority in customer satisfaction of one of these management forms shows for specific dimensions of the service provided.     

Bribery,corruption and bureaucratic hassle: Evidence from Myanmar

Corruption has been found to be the most severe obstacle to business operations, according to a recent survey of over 3000 firms in Myanmar. This paper sets out to understand the structure of corruption through an econometric analysis of this survey. It finds that firms with higher ‘ability to pay’ (proxied by sales revenue and employee growth) are more likely to pay bribes. While firms with lower ‘refusal power’ (i.e. those dependent on bureaucratic permissions to export and import) are more likely to find corruption to be an obstacle. A distinct but related question is whether bribes act as ‘efficiency grease’ by allowing firms to circumvent red tape. No evidence is found to support this hypothesis; in fact, firms that pay bribes report greater bureaucratic hassle compared to firms that do not. This result fits in more closely with the view that red tape could be used to extract bribes from firms.     

洗钱罪刑事立法之完善——以《联合国反腐败公约》为视角

《联合国反腐败公约》对洗钱犯罪作了规定,我国现行《刑法》对洗钱罪的规定与《公约》存在较大差异,从而使我国对洗钱罪及其上游犯罪的预防和打击的效果受到影响。我们有必要根据《公约》的规定完善我国关于洗钱犯罪的立法。     

技术锁定对创新绩效的影响：创新模式的调节作用

创新是引领发展的第一动力,当前我国经济发展已从创新数量转移到创新质量上来。聚焦技术创新过程中形成的技术锁定效应,运用DEA-SBM测度技术锁定效应并分析其发展趋势,检验技术锁定效应对创新绩效的影响,并寻找解锁技术锁定负效应的调节机制。研究发现：技术锁定效应显著抑制创新绩效提升,在经过一系列稳健性检验后结论依然成立。技术创新模式中的技术引进和自主创新对技术锁定负效应具有显著正向调节作用,且自主创新投入可以深度缓解技术锁定对创新绩效的消极影响;消化吸收能力在技术引进与自主创新之间发挥创新路径枢纽作用,表现为创新模式一体化的调节作用可以显著缓解技术锁定负效应。另外,异质性检验结果发现,创新能力不同未造成明显的技术锁定效应差异。研究结论对于积极调控我国技术锁定效应、推动创新驱动发展战略实施、促进经济高质量发展具有重要意义。     

基于演化博弈企业创新模式的策略研究

处于不同生命周期的企业面临的策略选择是不同的,通过博弈模型的假设,分析了企业合作与竞争的影响因素,结合企业不同发展阶段的影响因素的特点,提出了不同阶段的策略模式选择。从企业的不同生命周期的模型假设看出,竞争与合作策略选择是随着企业不同的发展阶段,各自的成本,收益以及在市场上是否处于有利地位的不同而不同的。对于企业而言,处于不同的生命周期,其面对的内外部环境是不同的,因此选择不同的战略模式,即选择不同降段的创新模式来实现各自更好更快的发展。     

促进西部省域工业企业创新的政策设计——四川省工业企业的实证分析

我国工业发展水平呈现西弱东强的格局,促进西部省域工业企业创新、加速提升其自主创新能力对于中国工业经济加快走新型工业化道路、转变经济发展方式具有现实意义。在我国现行体制下,地方政府在地区经济发展中起着举足轻重的作用,因而结合制度安排设计促进企业创新的政策,并经地方政府推动实施,以实现地区工业企业的跨越发展。在创新理论的指导下,以四川省工业企业为研究实例,在进行样本企业的问卷调查及样本企业的观测点的量化测度基础上,运用因子分析法和主成分分析法,通过实证分析找出影响西部省域工业企业自主创新能力的五个核心因素和八个重要因素。从而提出促进西部省域工业企业创新、提升其创新能力的“深化以创新为目标的制度改革”等七类二十三项政策建议。     

经济发展中的地方官员行为研究——基于政治晋升、财政分权与腐败的视角

本文同时考虑财政分权、政治晋升和腐败三个因素对地方官员行为的影响,进而构建了理论模型。从中得到的主要结论是,在基本模型中,地方官员对政治晋升的偏好程度越高,则其努力程度越高、腐败程度越低。而财政分权程度越高,官员的努力也越高,但对腐败水平影响却是不确定的。在进一步假设腐败会被惩罚的拓展模型中,基本模型的大部分结论都没有发生太大变化,只是分权程度的对努力的影响也变得不确定了。除此之外,我们进一步研究了,对官员腐败惩罚的力度和对官员腐败的惩罚准确程度的影响,相关命题表明,如果对官员腐败惩罚的越严厉,并且对官员腐败的惩罚越准确,官员努力水平和官员腐败程度都会变低。通过对研究结论的分析,我们还对以往文献的结果进行了重新解释。