Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis

Conceptual and applied studies assessing the linkage between economic freedom and corruption expect that economic freedom boosts economic growth, improves income, and reduces levels of corruption. However, most of them have concentrated on developed and developing groups, while the Association of So...

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Main Authors: Nguyen Ngoc Thach, Bui Hoang Ngoc
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
Series:Economies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/9/1/3
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author Nguyen Ngoc Thach
Bui Hoang Ngoc
author_facet Nguyen Ngoc Thach
Bui Hoang Ngoc
author_sort Nguyen Ngoc Thach
collection DOAJ
description Conceptual and applied studies assessing the linkage between economic freedom and corruption expect that economic freedom boosts economic growth, improves income, and reduces levels of corruption. However, most of them have concentrated on developed and developing groups, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries have drawn much less attention. Empirical findings are most often conflicting. Moreover, previous studies performed rather simple frequentist techniques regressing one or some freedom indices on corruption that do not allow for grasping all the aspects of economic freedom as well as capturing variations across countries. The study aims to investigate the effects of ten components of economic freedom index on the level of corruption in ten ASEAN countries from 1999 to 2018. By applying a Bayesian hierarchical mixed-effects regression via a Monte Carlo technique combined with the Gibbs sampler, the obtained results suggest several findings as follows: (<i>i</i>) In view of probability, the predictors property rights, government integrity, tax burden, business freedom, labor freedom, and investment freedom have a strongly positive impact on the response perceived corruption index; (<i>ii</i>) Government spending, trade freedom, and financial freedom exert a strongly negative effect, while the influence of monetary freedom is ambiguous; and (<i>iii</i>) There is an existence of not only random intercepts but also random coefficients at the country level impacting the model outcome. The empirical outcome could be of major importance for more efficient corruption controlling in emerging countries, including ASEAN nations.
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spelling doaj.art-a2c74dbac0634ece8c9f89d431fabfac2023-11-21T08:21:05ZengMDPI AGEconomies2227-70992021-01-0191310.3390/economies9010003Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects AnalysisNguyen Ngoc Thach0Bui Hoang Ngoc1Institute for Research Science and Banking Technology, Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, 39 Ham Nghi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, VietnamFinance, Economics and Management Research Group, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 97 Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, VietnamConceptual and applied studies assessing the linkage between economic freedom and corruption expect that economic freedom boosts economic growth, improves income, and reduces levels of corruption. However, most of them have concentrated on developed and developing groups, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries have drawn much less attention. Empirical findings are most often conflicting. Moreover, previous studies performed rather simple frequentist techniques regressing one or some freedom indices on corruption that do not allow for grasping all the aspects of economic freedom as well as capturing variations across countries. The study aims to investigate the effects of ten components of economic freedom index on the level of corruption in ten ASEAN countries from 1999 to 2018. By applying a Bayesian hierarchical mixed-effects regression via a Monte Carlo technique combined with the Gibbs sampler, the obtained results suggest several findings as follows: (<i>i</i>) In view of probability, the predictors property rights, government integrity, tax burden, business freedom, labor freedom, and investment freedom have a strongly positive impact on the response perceived corruption index; (<i>ii</i>) Government spending, trade freedom, and financial freedom exert a strongly negative effect, while the influence of monetary freedom is ambiguous; and (<i>iii</i>) There is an existence of not only random intercepts but also random coefficients at the country level impacting the model outcome. The empirical outcome could be of major importance for more efficient corruption controlling in emerging countries, including ASEAN nations.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/9/1/3economic freedomcorruptioneconomic growthBayesian hierarchical mixed-effects regressionASEAN countries
spellingShingle Nguyen Ngoc Thach
Bui Hoang Ngoc
Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis
Economies
economic freedom
corruption
economic growth
Bayesian hierarchical mixed-effects regression
ASEAN countries
title Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis
title_full Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis
title_fullStr Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis
title_short Impact of Economic Freedom on Corruption Revisited in ASEAN Countries: A Bayesian Hierarchical Mixed-Effects Analysis
title_sort impact of economic freedom on corruption revisited in asean countries a bayesian hierarchical mixed effects analysis
topic economic freedom
corruption
economic growth
Bayesian hierarchical mixed-effects regression
ASEAN countries
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/9/1/3
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