Nebojsa Jovovic

Belgrade Bank Academy, Serbia;

Mediterranean University, Montenegro

jovovicneso@gmail.com

ORCID 0000-0001-5523-761X

The impact of corruption on competition in the countries of Southeast Europe

Abstract. This article is an extended piece of research on the impact of corruption on the market competition in Southeast Europe (SEE). The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship of corruption and competition in the selected SEE countries. This paper analyses the annual data over the period of 1996 – 2019 from the World Bank and Transparency International. The starting hypothesis is that corruption has great influence on restricting competition in SEE and a significant negative impact on it. Multiple regression and analysis of time series are used in this research. The results verify the hypothesis. Our findings allow us to conclude that corruption must be reduced for SEE economies to take advantage of potential resulting benefits. Additionally, the conclusions also indicate that competition in these countries would be significantly reduced by policies on controlling corruption. Finally, several political implications for the regulation of corruption in SEE arise from these findings, as well.

Received: March, 2021

1st Revision: November, 2021

Accepted: December, 2021

DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2021/14-4/6

JEL Classification: D73, D40, F43

Keywords: competition, corruption, transition countries, economic development