Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.

Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.

Public Policy, Firm Size Distribution, and Corruption

Shafiun N Shimul, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

This dissertation comprises of three essays related to public economics. The first essay investigates fiscal decentralization and its spillover effects on corruption using US state-level panel data from 1992-2013. This essay uses a spatial estimation technique in order to investigate spillover effects. The study finds strong evidence of spatial dependency and spillover effects of decentralization and also finds a negative relationship between corruption and fiscal decentralization. The second essay examines whether a missing middle exists in the firm-size distribution among developing countries. Using data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey for more than 100 countries, the study estimates the missing middle by comparing the firm size distribution of developed countries with that of developing countries. The study finds that country-level corruption is a contributing factor in determining the missing middle than tax policies, and it concludes that corruption impedes economic growth. The third essay discusses whether there is a structural change in developing countries due to the rapid liberalization of economies. It is evident that structural changes have occurred in the developing countries in recent decades. However, trade liberalization is not a significant factor in determining those changes.

Subject Area

Economics

Recommended Citation

Shimul, Shafiun N, "Public Policy, Firm Size Distribution, and Corruption" (2017). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI10289694.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI10289694

Share

COinS