The effect of corruption on government expenditure allocation in OECD countries

Abstract

This paper empirically examines the effect of corruption on the allocation of government expenditures by function. Equations using pooled panel dataset for 21 OECD countries between 1998 and 2011 were tested, and the findings show that government expenditure on defense and general public services increase, while government expenditures on education, health, recreation, culture and religion decline with higher levels of corruption. This paper presents new results and new evidence on the link between corruption and allocation of government expenditures in OECD countries.