Eroding Legitimacy: Tax Avoidance Scandals and Political Distrust across the Globe
When:
—
Venue:
Online
We are pleased to announce the 3rd Seminar Series on Governance, Institutions, and Sustainability jointly hosted by the Centre for Political Economy and Institutional Studies and by the Birkbeck Responsible Business Centre, within the Birkbeck Business School.
In our rapidly evolving world, the intricate web connecting governance, institutions, and sustainability has become increasingly prominent. We invite scholars, researchers, and practitioners to enhance this very important debate and to join us in exploring the profound intertwining of these critical elements at our upcoming seminar series.
Abstract
Does information on politicians acting against the public interest harm trust in institutions and undermine the state’s legitimacy? This paper examines the impact of major tax avoidance scandals on institutional trust and related attitudes toward the state across the globe. We first create a new country-level database containing information on newspaper coverage of scandals involving political leaders and public officials. We then combine this database with large-scale survey data, and find that citizens exposed to these scandals have a lower level (or reduce their level) of institutional trust and willingness to comply with the law. We document that behind these effects are concerns about the country’s political situation and a worsening perception of politicians. Our results draw on various surveys, countries, samples, and estimation methods, and indicate that tax avoidance scandals involving a limited number of public officials can have significant adverse aggregate effects, contributing to the erosion of the state’s legitimacy.
Speaker
Alessandro Belmonte (Marche, Polytechnic University, Italy)
Convener/Organiser: Dr Luca Andriani
Contact name: Luca Andriani
Speakers- Alessandro Belmonte (Marche, Polytechnic University, Italy)
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