Does E-Government Reduce Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa? A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

S. Benson Simwanza and Dibyendu Maiti
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S. Benson Simwanza: Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics , University of Delhi
Dibyendu Maiti: Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics , University of Delhi

No 357, Working papers from Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics

Abstract: The paper investigates whether the thriving application of ICTs, e-government, reduces the level of corruption within nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a simple Ramsey model, it models the tax evasion in the presence of ICTs and demonstrates how the level of digital-institutional quality that improves digitalisation strengthens institutions, reduces corruption, and thereby enhances growth. Not digitalisation, but digitalisation with institutional quality matters most. Furthermore, this study empirically explores the nexus between perceived corruption and e-government using a panel data set for 44 Sub-Saharan African countries during the period 2003-2022 using various methods of estimation: OLS, IV, FE, and GMM methods. The regional e-government development index (EGDI) average is below the global average. The findings indicate that e-government does not lessen the corruption perception index across all indicators. E-government is robust in reducing the perceived corruption index when full interactions between government effectiveness and e-government, as well as between government effectiveness and economic prosperity, are introduced into the models.

Keywords: Corruption; E-government; IV–2SLS; Dynamic Panel GMM JEL codes: O33; O44; O57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 66 pages
Date: 2025-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-iue
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