3. The Italian scenario
During the period under consideration (1979–2005) both the electoral system and the corruption in Italy show peculiar characteristics.
The empirical literature studying the determinants of corruption has pointed out that corruption is less widespread in countries having a long tradition of democracy, political stability and a developed economic system. Even if all these factors are present in Italy, corruption represents a widespread and persistent phenomenon. Some explanations of the diffusion of corruption in Italy are7 the rise of federalism, the increase in state intervention and the diffused system of political patronage (Golden, 2000). In Italy, the dynamics of corruption have been affected by a strong anti-corruption campaign (widely known as “Mani Pulite”) which started in 1992 with the arrest of an important public official stopped while receiving a bribe.8 Mani Pulite shed light on a large system of corruption involving entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, judges and representative of all political parties.9 In the years 1992–1994, 12,000 people were investigated by 70 Italian district attorneys and 5000 individuals were arrested; among those under investigation, 1069 were politicians.10 A consequence of the anti-corruption campaign was that some political parties and many representatives of the old political élite disappeared from the political scene.
During the period 1979–2005, the Italian electoral system experienced two major changes in its degree of proportionality. Regarding the Senate (upper chamber) elections, Law 6 of February 1948 no. 28 initiated a mixed electoral system characterized by a high degree of proportionality. Under that system, just one candidate in each district could be presented by every political party, and the candidate was elected only if he reached at least 65% of the votes; but very few candidates collected the 65% constituency threshold and, consequently, nearly all Senate seats were assigned using the proportional system. The 18th April 1993 referendum changed the Italian national electoral system, bringing it closer to majoritarian. For the Senate, three quarters of the 315 seats are assigned using the majoritarian criterion and the remaining quarter using the proportional criterion. Law no. 270/2005, changed the Italian electoral system again, reintroducing a more proportional criterion in the assignment of seats.
The reasons that make the Italian scenario particularly suitable for an empirical analysis on corruption are the following:
(1)
The alternation of mixed electoral systems, more or less proportional, from 1979 to 2005 allows us to measure the degrees of proportionality through an index which assumes different values according to the different degree of proportionality of the electoral system. The Gallagher (dis)proportionality index is constructed. It is normally a representation index but, as explained later, it is a very good proxy for the degree of proportionality of an electoral system.
(2)
The two political indexes that have been created (see below) are based on the Senate electoral results; it has to be taken into consideration that, for the Senate elections, the Italian electoral Law establishes that they are on a regional basis. This allows us to exploit a cross-sectional dimension, besides the time series dimension, in order to conduct a panel analysis.
(3)
The regional analysis has also got social motivation. The political mechanism in Italy was characterized by the political patronage, called clientelismo, that allowed groups of citizens linked directly to politicians to reap high rewards through special laws (leggine) or through political appointments. It can strongly be argued that the interaction between politicians and groups of citizens, which is the basis for corrupt behaviour, happens within the same region. In other words, citizens of a region are willing to elect corrupt politicians in the same region. And so at regional level the link between our measure of per capita corruption and the political indexes can be justified.
(4)
The Regional dimension of Italy allows us both to exploit panel data techniques (as pointed in 2) and to control for unknown diversity. A problem that arises in the interpretation of regressions based on cross-country data is that they are fragile to unobserved heterogeneity; countries differ greatly in levels of government efficiency, in many aspects of socio-economic life and in the effectiveness of economic policies. Instead, it can be easier to control for such heterogeneities in regressions based on within country data.
3. สถานการณ์ของอิตาลีในช่วงเวลาภายใต้การพิจารณา( - 2005) วรรณกรรมเชิงประจักษ์ศึกษาปัจจัยของความเสียหายได้ชี้ให้เห็นว่าการทุจริตเป็นที่แพร่หลายน้อยในประเทศที่มีความยาวประเพณี ของระบอบประชาธิปไตยมีเสถียรภาพทางการเมืองและระบบเศรษฐกิจที่พัฒนาแล้ว แม้ว่าปัจจัยเหล่านี้ทั้งหมดที่มีอยู่ในอิตาลีทุจริตหมายถึงปรากฏการณ์ที่แพร่หลายและถาวร คำอธิบายบางส่วนของการแพร่กระจายของการทุจริตในอิตาลี ในอิตาลี- ทุจริตแคมเปญ " pulite") ซึ่งเริ่มต้นในปี - ปี ในหมู่ผู้ที่อยู่ภายใต้การตรวจสอบเป็น - แคมเปญการทุจริตคือการที่บางพรรคการเมืองและผู้แทนหลายชนชั้นสูงทางการเมืองเก่าหายไปจากที่เกิดเหตุทางการเมืองในช่วงปี - 2005 เกี่ยวกับวุฒิสภา 28 ภายใต้ระบบที่เพียงหนึ่งในผู้สมัครในแต่ละเขตจะนำเสนอโดยทุกพรรคการเมืองและผู้สมัครที่ได้รับการเลือกตั้งเฉพาะในกรณีที่เขาไปถึงอย่างน้อย แต่ผู้สมัครน้อยมากที่เก็บรวบรวมเกณฑ์เลือกตั้ง 18 สำหรับวุฒิสภาสามในสี่ของ กฎหมายไม่มี 3. The Italian scenario
During the period under consideration (1979–2005) both the electoral system and the corruption in Italy show peculiar characteristics.
The empirical literature studying the determinants of corruption has pointed out that corruption is less widespread in countries having a long tradition of democracy, political stability and a developed economic system. Even if all these factors are present in Italy, corruption represents a widespread and persistent phenomenon. Some explanations of the diffusion of corruption in Italy are7 the rise of federalism, the increase in state intervention and the diffused system of political patronage (Golden, 2000). In Italy, the dynamics of corruption have been affected by a strong anti-corruption campaign (widely known as “Mani Pulite”) which started in 1992 with the arrest of an important public official stopped while receiving a bribe.8 Mani Pulite shed light on a large system of corruption involving entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, judges and representative of all political parties.9 In the years 1992–1994, 12,000 people were investigated by 70 Italian district attorneys and 5000 individuals were arrested; among those under investigation, 1069 were politicians.10 A consequence of the anti-corruption campaign was that some political parties and many representatives of the old political élite disappeared from the political scene.
During the period 1979–2005, the Italian electoral system experienced two major changes in its degree of proportionality. Regarding the Senate (upper chamber) elections, Law 6 of February 1948 no. 28 initiated a mixed electoral system characterized by a high degree of proportionality. Under that system, just one candidate in each district could be presented by every political party, and the candidate was elected only if he reached at least 65% of the votes; but very few candidates collected the 65% constituency threshold and, consequently, nearly all Senate seats were assigned using the proportional system. The 18th April 1993 referendum changed the Italian national electoral system, bringing it closer to majoritarian. For the Senate, three quarters of the 315 seats are assigned using the majoritarian criterion and the remaining quarter using the proportional criterion. Law no. 270/2005, changed the Italian electoral system again, reintroducing a more proportional criterion in the assignment of seats.
The reasons that make the Italian scenario particularly suitable for an empirical analysis on corruption are the following:
(1)
The alternation of mixed electoral systems, more or less proportional, from 1979 to 2005 allows us to measure the degrees of proportionality through an index which assumes different values according to the different degree of proportionality of the electoral system. The Gallagher (dis)proportionality index is constructed. It is normally a representation index but, as explained later, it is a very good proxy for the degree of proportionality of an electoral system.
(2)
The two political indexes that have been created (see below) are based on the Senate electoral results; it has to be taken into consideration that, for the Senate elections, the Italian electoral Law establishes that they are on a regional basis. This allows us to exploit a cross-sectional dimension, besides the time series dimension, in order to conduct a panel analysis.
(3)
The regional analysis has also got social motivation. The political mechanism in Italy was characterized by the political patronage, called clientelismo, that allowed groups of citizens linked directly to politicians to reap high rewards through special laws (leggine) or through political appointments. It can strongly be argued that the interaction between politicians and groups of citizens, which is the basis for corrupt behaviour, happens within the same region. In other words, citizens of a region are willing to elect corrupt politicians in the same region. And so at regional level the link between our measure of per capita corruption and the political indexes can be justified.
(4)
The Regional dimension of Italy allows us both to exploit panel data techniques (as pointed in 2) and to control for unknown diversity. A problem that arises in the interpretation of regressions based on cross-country data is that they are fragile to unobserved heterogeneity; countries differ greatly in levels of government efficiency, in many aspects of socio-economic life and in the effectiveness of economic policies. Instead, it can be easier to control for such heterogeneities in regressions based on within country data.
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