Thriving or Declining? Unraveling Corruption, Environmental Quality, Energy Consumption, and Economic Growth in ASEAN Countries

Abstract

The current study is carried out to explore the link between Corruption,
Environment quality. Energy consumption and economic growth in selected
Asean countries. In addition to that, the present study aims to highlight the
direct impacts of corruption upon environmental degradation, energy
consumption, and economic progress. For this purpose, the analytical
framework has been particularly used. Theoretically, environmental quality is
expected to be directly influenced by corruption using taxation and
regulations, while corruption affects economic growth which in turn affects
the quality of environment. Therefore, economic growth is negatively
influenced by the levels of corruptions. The higher the levels of corruption the
lower will be the GDP level of an economy. This lower GDP level then
influences the environmental quality, and thus confirms the EKC hypothesis.
This paper has employed cointegration model for analyzing the association
between environmental quality, energy consumption, corruption, and
economic growth for the data involving 5 ASEAN countries i.e. Malaysia,
Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia for the years 1960-2021. The
literature review has shown no empirical study that have employed
cointegration model for examining the effects of corruption on energy
consumption, environmental quality, and economic growth. The findings of
the study are in line with the proposed hypothesis. The study which is among
the pioneering studies will be helpful for policymakers and researchers.