Public Sector Corruption and Accountability in Cost Deviations and Overruns of Public Projects

Francisco Pinheiro Catalão (), Carlos Oliveira Cruz () and Joaquim Miranda Sarmento ()
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Francisco Pinheiro Catalão: Universidade Europeia
Carlos Oliveira Cruz: Universidade de Lisboa
Joaquim Miranda Sarmento: ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Universidade de Lisboa

Public Organization Review, 2023, vol. 23, issue 3, No 15, 1105-1126

Abstract: Abstract There is great public concern on cost deviations and overruns in public projects, particularly regarding the impact of corruption and accountability. To examine this question, we use a data set of over 4,000 public projects from Portugal covering a 25-year period. By using the corruption and accountability index for Portugal, we are able to focus on the potential influence of these dimensions, while controlling for institutional, political, and economic variables. Our research method follows an econometric approach, using the cost deviation and the cost overrun of each project as dependent variables. The implication of this study is that more corruption and less accountability can lead to higher cost deviations and overruns.

Keywords: Accountability; Cost overruns; Cost deviation; Corruption; Public projects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s11115-022-00616-x

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