The thesis contains three main Chapters in which the relationship between organised crime and corruption is studied from different perspectives. Chapter 2 presents a theoretical framework for analyzing the interactions between corruption and organized crime, together with the individual and combined effect of these phenomena on economic performance. We show how organized crime on its own reduces entrepreneurial activity, and how organized crime in conjunction with corruption may reduce such activity to a lesser or greater extent. Chapter 3 presents an empirical investigation into the impact of corruption on economic growth in the presence of organized criminal activities. Using a panel of 19 Italian regions for the period 1983-2009, the analysis reveals that corruption and organized crime have independent negative effects on growth, and that the effect of either is less severe when the other is also present. Chapter 4 presents a further empirical investigation which examines the determinants of organized crime and of common crime in a panel of Italian regions over the period 1983-2003. The analysis shows that both organized and common crimes respond symmetrically to certain drivers, but asymmetrically to others.

This thesis explores three important factors that have been central to the pursuit of economic development especially in case of developing countries. These are human capital, corruption and institutions. The first chapter presents an analysis of the role of corruption in determining the distribution of income and, with this, the degree of poverty and inequality. The analysis is based on an overlapping generations model in which individuals may seek to improve their productive efficiency (and hence earnings) by supplementing or substituting publicly provided services (such as education and health) with personal expenditures on human capital investment. Because of capital market imperfections, their ability to do this depends on their inherited wealth which serves as collateral for loans. Corruption is reflected in the pilfering of public funds and a reduction in public service provision, the effect of which is to reduce the earnings of those who rely on such services and to exacerbate the extent of credit rationing for these agents. The dynamic general equilibrium of the model is characterised by multiple steady states to which different income classes converge. Higher levels of corruption lead to higher levels of poverty and may result in complete polarisation between the rich and poor by eliminating the middle class. The second chapter presents an analysis of the threshold effects of human capital on economic growth. Using a sample of 126 countries (1970-2012), we estimate a dynamic threshold panel model following Hansen (1999) and Caner & Hansen (2004). Our results are twofold: first, there exists a significant threshold level of development (proxied by capital stock per capita) below which the effect of human capital on economic growth is insignificant, whereas it is positive significant above it; second, while looking into the impact of institutional quality, we find significant thresholds of interaction between institutional quality and development.

This thesis represents a contribution to the literature on the relationship between decentralisation, corruption, and economic growth. This relationship is analysed both theoretically and empirically. The first chapter investigates one of the channels through which decentralisation can potentially affect corruption and economic growth. The analysis uses a dynamic general equilibrium model to gain further insights into the effects of decentralisation on the structure of corruption. The results suggest that decentralisation, by bringing the people closer to government, can enable corrupt local government officials to internalise the effects of their behaviour. It thereby generates an incentive for officials to moderate their bribe demands. This has positive effects for investment and economic growth. The second chapter examines a potential trade-off that may occur when countries embark on a program of decentralisation. On the one hand decentralisation may improve the information problems that plague overly centralised governments, but at the same time it can potentially lead to a loss of control as discretionary power is granted to local officials without implementing the required accountability mechanisms. The results of the analysis suggest that while decentralisation can potentially reduce corruption an aid economic performance in the long run, it may inevitable lead to increased corruption in the short-run. A key idea is that extra care must be taken to introducing accountability structures at the local level, but that these will likely take time before becoming effective, so that in the near term corruption may increase. In the third chapter the relationship between decentralisation, corruption and economic growth is analysed empirically, using panel data techniques. While previous studies have looked at the relationship between decentralisation and corruption, or between decentralisation and growth, or between corruption and growth, few have looked at the joint relationship between the three. Moreover, previous studies often suffer from endogeneity problems. To overcome this, the Generalised Method of Moments technique is employed; an approach that has not been used on this topic before. It is shown that, while there is evidence that corruption hampers economic growth, the effects of decentralisation are ambiguous. The chapter highlights the inherent difficulties in analysing the effects of decentralisation, which is a complex and multifaceted concept that is impossible to fully capture in the data. This suggests that empirical studies will inevitably be limited in their ability to fully assess a relationship as nuanced as this. The implication is that further investigation at the theoretical level is required. Overall, the thesis provides support for the idea that decentralisation can potentially lead to beneficial outcomes, both in terms so of combating corruption and in wider economic terms. However, it also suggest that care must be taken when implementing reforms as these beneficial outcomes a far from certain.

Background: The infiltration of the construction industry has been central for the emergence and expansion of organized crime internationally. Sweden is a country in transition, with the sharpest turn towards economic inequality in Western Europe in recent decades. A concern for a society in transition is the emergence of organized crime.Aims and method: This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of the emergence of organized crime, and provides a comprehensive literature review on the function of corruption in the organized crime infiltration of the construction industry. Results: Corruption was identified in the enforcement of cartels and the organization of unregistered labor. Organized crime targeted unions, politicians and administrators in urban planning, as well as the courts, the elections and the military.Conclusions: Organized crime groups were shown to exploit both regulation and its absence to expand their profits and power. Factors related to the emergence of organized crime included structural and cultural incentives for corruption, transition economies, discretionary power, and the question of agency. The findings were compared to the question of organized crime in a Swedish context and its involvement in the construction industry.

La présente thèse a examiné et discuté des mesures prises par le gouvernement égyptien pour lutter contre la corruption en fournissant une étude constructive et interdisciplinaire post-mortem critique du premier projet de stratégie nationale de lutte contre la corruption élaboré par l’Égypte en 2014 et devant s’appliquer de 2014 à 2018. Il visait à examiner dans quelle mesure les politiques mises en œuvre étaient susceptibles d'atteindre leurs objectifs, compte tenu du taux élevé de corruption administrative et des problèmes de gouvernance ayant fortement affecté l'application des réformes proposées dans ladite stratégie. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de formuler des recommandations de réformes sur mesure afin de combler le fossé entre les réformes de gouvernance envisagées et la réalité sur le terrain. Comment la gouvernance législative de l’Égypte pourrait-elle tirer parti d’une panoplie de mesures correctives contre la corruption? Telle est la question de recherche que cette thèse a cherché à aborder. En vue d'atteindre cet objectif, la méthodologie s’est appuyée sur des données secondaires combinant une analyse documentaire, une analyse documentaire de solutions efficaces et l’expérience réussie des pays en développement dans la lutte contre la corruption, des formations aux institutions de lutte contre la corruption et de gestion, un examen des rapports, observations et connaissance du contexte particulier dédits pays. L'étude visait à créer un dialogue entre diverses disciplines dans le but d'identifier et de décrire les mesures efficaces susceptibles de garantir le succès des futures stratégies de lutte contre la corruption. L'examen du contexte historique des efforts consentis par l'Égypte dans sa lutte contre la corruption, de 1952 à 2014, a montré que les dirigeants politiques égyptiens avaient affronté tous les problèmes de corruption en promulguant des lois sans accorder une attention soutenue au degré de leur mise en œuvre. La présente thèse vise à combler une lacune importante dans la recherche en proposant une étude interdisciplinaire du problème de la corruption administrative en Égypte, qui ne soit pas uniquement centrée sur la modification des lois. Toutefois, il convient de noter que l'approche interdisciplinaire ne compromet nullement le rôle de la loi dans la lutte contre la corruption, mais fournit à la loi un soutien et des ressources supplémentaires pour l'aider à atteindre l'objectif ciblé. Cette thèse a tenté de proposer des moyens efficaces de servir l'esprit de la loi et l'intention du législateur. La recherche a conclu qu'il était recommandé que les décideurs politiques cherchent à adopter une approche à la fois plus disséminée, plus participative, plus protectrice et plus stimulante, lors de la mise en œuvre de stratégies futures de contrôle de la corruption et d'application des lois anticorruption. Outre le caractère exhaustif de l'approche proposée, la volonté politique de soutenir les mesures de lutte contre la corruption revêt, dans tous les cas, une importance primordiale. / This thesis examined and discussed the measures undertaken by the Egyptian government to fight corruption by providing a critical post-mortem interdisciplinary constructive study of Egypt’s first drafted National Anti-Corruption Strategy that was developed in 2014, and scheduled to run from 2014-2018. It sought to examine the extent to which the implemented policies were likely to achieve their goals, given the high rate of administrative corruption and the governance problems that strongly affected the enforcement of the reforms proposed in the strategy. The main aim of this thesis is to formulate custom-made recommendations for reforms in an effort to bridge the gap between the intended governance reforms and the reality on the ground. How can Egypt’s legislative governance benefit from an inventory of anti-corruption remedies? That is the research question that this thesis sought to address. In order to serve this purpose, the methodology relied on secondary data that combined desk review, a literature review of effective solutions and successful in-progress countries’ experiences in tackling corruption, trainings in anti-corruption and management institutions, review of international organizations’ reports, observations and knowledge of the countries’ particular context. The study aspired to create a dialogue among a range of disciplines in an attempt to identify and describe the effective measures that would guarantee the success of the future anti-corruption strategies. The review of the historical background of Egypt’s efforts to fight corruption from 1952-2014 has shown that political leaders in Egypt have faced every corruption problem by promulgating laws without giving much attention to the degree of their implementation. This thesis fills an important gap in research by providing an interdisciplinary study of the problem of administrative corruption in Egypt that is not solely centered on changing the laws. However, it is important to note that the interdisciplinary approach does not undermine the role of the law in fighting corruption, rather it provides the law with additional support and resources to help it in achieving its intended goal. This thesis attempted to propose effective ways to serve the spirit of the law and the intention of the legislator. The research concluded that it is recommended that policy makers may seek to adopt an approach that is at the same time more disseminative, more participative, more protective, and more stimulating when implementing future strategies to control corruption and enforce anti-corruption laws. In addition to the comprehensiveness of this proposed approach, the political will to support anti-corruption measures is, in all cases, of paramount importance.

Attitudes towards corruption have been attributed to a broad range of macro-level and, to a limited extent, micro-level antecedents. Neglected is academic research on the effect of individual-level psychological factors on the attitudes toward corruption. To fill this gap, this article aims to explore the impact of individuals' personality traits on their willingness to justify corrupt acts, drawing on data from World Values Survey Wave 6. By applying fixed effects models, the study finds that two of five personality traits - consciousness and agreeableness are significantly and negatively associated with individuals' willingness to justify corrupt exchanges. Additionally, the study results show that the association between the personality traits and corruption tolerance varies from country to country: openness to experience, for instance, was significantly and negatively associated with corruption tolerance in Germany, whereas this trend was not observed in the Dutch sample. Among the control variables, age and sex were significant predictors of corruption tolerance as well as the Dutch were less willing to justify corrupt acts than Germans. The study provides empirical and practical implications as well as suggestion for future research.

1 Latent criminality Abstract This submitted diploma thesis deals with the phenomenon of latent criminality. Latent criminality is the part of criminality that is for some reason not registered by the law enforcement authorities. The thesis itself consists of four consecutive chapters. The first chapter deals with the concept of crime. It discusses the different approaches to concept of crime in criminology and the indicators that are used to describe it. Furthermore, this chapter is dedicated to the division of crime into latent and registered crime and the sources of information about registered crime. In particular, it focuses on official crime statistics. In the second chapter, the issue of latent crime is discussed in more detail. It defines the concept of latency, in which cases it is considered being latent criminality and what its types are. Furthermore, the ratio of latent and registered crime, the rate and extent of latency are described. At the end the possible causes of its existence are presented, one of the main reasons being the failure to report the crime by its victims. The third chapter focuses on possible methods of detecting latent crime, where more space is subsequently devoted to the two most important methods, namely victimization surveys and self- report studies. For both of these...

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En el presente trabajo, se analiza si la percepción de confianza afecta la probabilidad de sobornar a un funcionario público para el caso de Perú en el 2018. Asimismo, se investiga si otras características individuales aumentan la probabilidad de soborno. Para ello, se eligen cinco instituciones públicas con mayor tasa de admisión de soborno y con mayor tasa de respuesta entre los entrevistados. Se utiliza dos modelos probit binarios con distinta definición de corrupción. En el primero, se considera si la persona solo admite sobornar, y el segundo se considera si la persona admite o le solicitan soborno. Los resultados muestran que no existe suficiente evidencia para poder afirmar que existe una relación negativa entre ambas variables, pero se comprueba lo afirmado por la literatura con respecto a la relación entre la variable probabilidad de soborno y variables como edad, género, y educación. / In this paper, it is analyzed whether the perception of trust affects the probability of bribing a public official in Perú during 2018. In addition, it is investigated whether other individual characteristics increase the probability of bribery. For this, five public institutions with a higher bribe admission rate and with a higher response rate among the interviewees are chosen. Two probit models with different definition of corruption are used. The first one considers whether the person only admits to bribing, and the second one considers whether the person admits or if the public official requests bribery. The results show that there is not enough evidence to be able to affirm that there is a negative relationship between both variables, but it is verified what is stated by the literature regarding the relationship between the variable probability of bribery and variables such as age, gender, and education. / Trabajo de investigación

Cette thèse pose les questions suivantes : quels sont les rôles de la corruption et du clientélisme politique dans la gouvernance et la pérennisation des régimes autoritaires; et comment ces pratiques persistent ou se transforment dans les périodes de transformation politique et de changement de régime. Ces questions sont abordées à travers la lentille du cas tunisien, et aussi cette thèse s’appuie-t-elle sur une enquête de terrain conduite, d’un côté, auprès des acteurs de la lutte contre la corruption; et de l’autre auprès de cadres et de professionnels de l’industrie du ciment. Elle souligne que le clientélisme politique sous le régime Ben Ali, en tant qu’institution informelle, s’est transformé de façon concomitante aux transformations des institutions économiques et politiques formelles. Ensuite, après le changement de régime, les discours sur la corruption et la lutte contre la corruption indiquent que les institutions « démocratiques » émergentes peinent à s’affirmer face aux pratiques informelles du clientélisme politique, qui s’avèrent exceptionnellement résilientes.