Author(s)

Maria-Eleni Syrmali¹, George Sfakianakis^2,3, George Agiomirgianakis^3,4,5

¹Department of Sociology, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece.
²Department of Business Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
³Hellenic Scientific Institute on the Economics of Education & Life-Long Learning, Research and Innovation, Athens, Greece.
⁴Department of Accounting and Finance, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Heraklion, Greece.
⁵School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece.

Corruption is a complex social, economic and political phenomenon, which exists in all countries. The structural characteristics of corruption differ between countries. The deeper roots of corruption depend on the individual conditions of each country, whereas they can be detected in bureaucratic tradition, economic development and social history, among others. At the policy level, the associated reform measures are inadequate if they are not supported by the appropriate institutional framework and good governance practices. However, in case policies that are applied in order to combat corruption fail, it evolves from occasional to endemic problems impeding the efforts to limit corruption. In addition, fragile institutional environments flourish the conditions strengthening systemic corruption, which has penetrated into the value system of societies.

Corruption, Institutions, Governance, Economic Development

Syrmali, M. , Sfakianakis, G. and Agiomirgianakis, G. (2023) The Complex Phenomenon of Corruption: An Empirical Analysis. Theoretical Economics Letters, 13, 1698-1718. doi: 10.4236/tel.2023.137098.