Alejandro Ferrando Gamir
Abstract
High-level corruption and fraud has had an increased impact on the social and political debate in Spain, especially since the beginning of the financial crisis when several cuts in social spending were made. Greater attention is being paid to where and how the government spends its public resources. This paper explores the extent and forms of political corruption in Spanish public procurement. Its main contribution is the rich analytical discussion of read more
Czibik, Á – Fazekas, M – Tóth, B – Tóth I J: Toolkit for detecting collusive bidding in public procurement. With examples from Hungary. Working Paper Series: CRCB-WP/2014:02.
Across the globe, the exposure of collusive behaviour of companies in procurement markets is predominantly based on qualitative information from firms or individuals involved in collusion. This makes detection rare and titled towards disintegrating bidding rings. Economic analysis, modelling and forecasting have a limited role in this field. However, the increasing availability of large read more
December 22, 2014
In January 2014, the Hungarian Government announced that it had reached an agreement with the Russian Government to construct two new reactors to replace the current capacity at the Paks nuclear power plant. Paks I is a Soviet-built plant that has been operational since 1983. It is the only nuclear power plant in the country and provides about 40% of Hungary’s electricity. With an estimated budget of 3-4 trillion Hungarian forint (9-13 billion euros), the project will be Hungary’s read more
December 8, 2014
Mihály Fazekas presented at the International Corruption Hunters Alliance meeting organised by the World Bank in Washington, DC. This conference brought together heads and senior officials of corruption investigating bodies and prosecuting authorities, anti-corruption experts, academics, and representatives of international organizations from over 130 countries. His presentation was part of the panel on how to use data mining and ‘Big Data’ to better detect, investigate, and read more
Fazekas, M – Tóth, I J: From corruption to state capture: A new analytical framework with empirical applications from Hungary. Working Paper Series: CRCB-WP/2014:01.
State capture and corruption are widespread phenomena across the globe, but their empirical study is still highly challenging. This paper develops a new conceptual and analytical framework for gauging state capture based on micro-level contractual networks in public procurement. To this end, it first establishes a robust measure of corruption risks in public procurement transactions focusing on relationships between pairs of issuers and suppliers. Second, it searches for read more
November 12, 2014
The staff of CRCB briefed European Commission and Member State public procurement officials about the CRCB risk assessment methodology and future perspectives for collaboration within CRCB’s new large-scale research program, called DIGIWHIST. His presentation was part of the 12th of November 2014 meeting of the Economic and Statistical Working Group (Advisory Committee on Public Procurement), Brussels.
The presentation: (PDF)
Suggested read more
Fazekas M. – Tóth I. J.. (2014), New ways to measure institutionalised grand corruption in public procurement. U4 Policy Brief, October 2014 No 9, CMI-U4.
Public procurement, one of the largest areas of public spending worldwide, gives public officials wide discretion. It is therefore unsurprising that it is also one of the government functions most often vulnerable to corruption. While there have been many qualitative accounts of high-level corruption in public contracting, it is only recently that read more
October 28, 2014
Mihály Fazekas presented CRCB’s research at the launch event for the second ANTICORRP volume, The Anticorruption Frontline, at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
The presentation focused on the main findings of the chapter co-authored by CRCB researchers István Jánost Tóth and Mihály Fazekas. In addition, it also presented new research perspectives, including the author’s work using EU-wide public procurement data as well as the exciting new research grant they recently won, called read more
Fazekas, M. – Chvalkovska, J. – Skuhrovec, J. – Tóth, I. J. – King, L. P.: Are EU Funds a Corruption Risk? The Impact of EU Funds on Grand Corruption in Central and Eastern Europe. In Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (ed.): The Anticorruption Frontline. The ANTICORRP Project Vol. 2., Barbara Budrich Publishers. Opladen – Berlin – Toronto. 2014. pp. 68-89.
There is an intensifying public debate about EU Structural and Cohesion Fund’s impact on government quality in recipient countries. We test read more
On 28th October 2014 Istvan Janos Toth presented CRCB’s research results on the corruption risks of the investment of Paks nuclear power plant. The study was prepared for the Energiaklub Institute.
The study examines corruption risks based on economic theory and the specific characteristics of large investment projects. We provide an estimate of the corruption risks associated with the proposed investment and put forward suggestions for an anti-corruption strategy. One of the key arguments in the study is that as investment read more