From PhysOrg, November 24:
It is possible for corruption to lead to better environmental efficiency and improved economy in developing countries, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.
The study presents a novel Bayesian data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to examine cross-country environmental efficiency. Though in line with at least a chunk of the literature on environmental efficiency, the findings may stun green activists and environment-friendly media as the researchers confine the inverse relationship between levels of pollution and levels of corruption merely to developing countries.
"Corruption could facilitate economic activity and improve environmental efficiency for countries with weak institutions," argues the study's corresponding author Dr. Panagiotis Zervopoulos of the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
"In line with the economic growth and part of the environmental efficiency literature, this work identified an inverse relationship between the control of corruption and developing countries' environmental efficiency."
The inverse correlation is found to be "statistically significant" in developing countries, "while it is not statistically significant for developed countries. Additionally, developed countries' environmental efficiency is not affected by formal institutional factors but rather by environmental policies," notes Dr. Zervopoulos....
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