Vztah korupce a šedé ekonomiky ve vybraných státech EU

The bachelor’s thesis focuses on the relationship between corruption and the shadow economy in EU member states for the year 2022. At the time of writing, this represents the most up-to-date data available for all European countries. The aim of the thesis is to examine whether corruption has an impact on the shadow economy and, if so, whether a higher level of corruption in a country is associated with a larger shadow economy. The theoretical part is based on a literature review, while the empirical part consists of a comparative analysis and an OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) regression using cross-sectional data. Corruption is measured using three available corruption indices, each tested separately alongside control variables. The empirical results indicate a strong correlation between the corruption indices and the Rule of Law indicator, which leads to a multicollinearity problem. In a subsequent step, this indicator is removed from the model, and the analysis confirms the stated hypothesis regarding the effect of corruption. Finally, the indicator is reintroduced into the model in place of the excluded corruption variable, showing that the variable capturing the quality of the rule of law better explains the variation in the shadow economy.