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Corruption and Population Health in the European Union Countries—An Institutionalist Perspective

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  • Oana-Ramona Socoliuc (Guriță)

    (Department of Economics and International Relations, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, 700505 Iași, Romania)

  • Nicoleta Sîrghi

    (Department of Economics and Economic Modelling, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, 16 Pestalozzi Street, 300115 Timișoara, Romania)

  • Dănuţ-Vasile Jemna

    (Department of Accounting Business Information Systems and Statistics, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, 700505 Iași, Romania)

  • Mihaela David

    (Economic Research Department, “Gh. Zane” Institute for Economic and Social Research, Romanian Academy—Iași Branch, 700481 Iași, Romania)

Abstract

Even though the European Union (EU) is considered one of the best performers in the world in fighting corruption, the situation changes when the analysis is shifted to the national dimension of its member states, with significant differences concerning the effects of corruption on population health. Using the theory of New Institutional Economics as a complementary tool that provides additional representativeness to this phenomenon, the aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of corruption on population health, considering also other demographic and socio-economic determinants. Using data collected at the EU level registered between 2000–2019, we employ panel date models to validate the ongoing effect of perceived corruption on population health. Our empirical findings fully validate the institutionalist perspective, according to which countries with inclusive institutions better control the anomaly of corruption while benefitting from higher life expectancy and reducing child mortality rates. Conversely, the EU countries with rather extractive institutions suffer in terms of both longevity of population and infant mortality. Our study emphasizes that in tackling corruption pressure on population health, the most effective way is to improve the quality of governance in countries with fragile institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Oana-Ramona Socoliuc (Guriță) & Nicoleta Sîrghi & Dănuţ-Vasile Jemna & Mihaela David, 2022. "Corruption and Population Health in the European Union Countries—An Institutionalist Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5110-:d:799749
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