The Role of the Human Capital in the Corruption-Economic Growth Nexus: A VECM Approach to the Case of Tunisia

Abstract

This article examines the corruption effects on economic growth in Tunisia during the period 1987 to 2016. The model used in this study is an extension of Solow's model by defining corruption in the field of technical progress. In order to delineate the role of the human capital in corruption, the study sets out to estimate the model firstly in the absence and in the presence of human capital. One outstanding result of VECM estimations is that, in the long run, the human capital plays a key role in the increase of the effect of the total corruption and the decrease in the effect of the growth of the population without effecting a change in the physical capital. In the short term, human capital allows to transform the negative effect of the delayed variable output into a positive one. It also increased the effect of total corruption and made the effect of physical capital positive.