THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF LEGISLATIVE COMPLEXITY AND CORRUPTION: A CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS

This paper analyzes the relationship between corruption and legislative complexity, their impact on growth rate, and per capita income distribution. An econometric analysis is performed using a new index of legislative complexity, built in a way that makes it internationally comparable. In the dataset sixty-seven countries are considered, for a period of twenty-one years from 1995 to 2015. The OLS and 2SLS regressions are provided. The results of the econometric analysis support the hypothesis that legislative complexity is a constraint to growth, and that in countries with a long history of liberal democracy legislative complexity determines an income redistribution to the detriment of the poorer social classes.