Studying the Relationship between Corruption and Poverty, Public Debt, and Economic Growth : A Case Study of the Gambia (1996-2016)

Sammanfattning: This paper studies the relationship between corruption and poverty, public debt, and economic growth in the Gambia, to be estimated with data from 1992 to 2016 accessed from the World Bank database using the multiple regression analysis. While extensive literature has agreed on the damaging nature of corruption, not many have tested the relation between corruption and poverty, public debt and economic growth. This thesis intends to bridge the gap in the literature through contributing a study of the relationship of corruption and poverty, public debt, and economic growth in the Gambia during the time period 1996-2016. Results indicate that corruption has a positive statistical and significant relationship with poverty in Gambia. However, the relationship between corruption and economic growth and public debt are statically insignificant. In policy terms, the Gambia must increase the fight against corruption to make their public expenditure more productive and especially to minimise poverty.