Corruption rate and Economic performance

Corruption and its means are a ubiquitous phenomenon all over the world, both within the private sector and, above all, the public sector. Its effects on key areas of economic health and human life may seem to be a major problem and should not be neglected. The aim of this bachelor thesis was to evaluate aspects of corruption, and especially to analyze its relationship with economic performance and some other socio-economic and political indicators within the monitored region of East Asia, the Czech Republic and to limited extend the European Union for a specified period of time. To achieve the results, data of CPI compiled by Transparency International and the value of the GDP per capita PPP provided by the World Bank were used. Their relationship was examined using correlation analysis. The values of the Democracy Index (EIU) and the HDI (UN) were also used to show a wider picture of origins and effects of corruption. Based on the analysis, it was found that the results may differ while using different perspectives - within individual countries, the mutual relations of the observed phenomena were not completely visible during the specified period, however, when comparing the values of countries within individual years, the indicators of corruption and economic performance showed a clear link. Finally, a deduction of the existence and direction of causality and a comparison of the monitored countries were conducted. The key findings were that the effects between corruption and economic performance are reciprocal, with economically more advanced countries tending to show lower levels of corruption and vice versa.