MERITOKRATIOCHTILLVÄXTPÅ REGIONALNIVÅ En kvantitativ studie om sambandet mellan politisering av förvaltningen och ekonomisk tillväxt i subnationella europeiska regioner

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between bureaucratic politicization and economic growth across subnational European regions. Past research indicates that politicization of the bureaucracy may lead to corruption, decreased administrative competence, reduced responsiveness, and lower quality of public services. However, despite theoretical suggestions of such a relationship, the number of large-scale studies exploring bureaucratic politicization and economic growth remains limited, inconsistent, and confined to the national level. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine whether this relationship can be observed at the subnational level. Using a statistical cross-sectional approach, this study analyzes data from 162 European regions within 18 different countries. Bureaucratic politicization is measured using a subnational meritocracy indicator, developed by Charron et al. (2016) for the QoG-institute. Economic growth is measured as the total percentage change in GDP per capita from 2014 to 2022, sourced from Eurostat (2024a, 2024b). While a bivariate regression analysis initially suggests a positive relationship between bureaucratic politicization and economic growth, a multivariate regression reveals that this relationship diminishes and becomes statistically insignificant when controlling for various factors. Given the limited sample size, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn from these findings. Nonetheless, this study underscores the complexity of assessing the relationship and emphasizes the necessity for more extensive research at both regional and national levels. Most importantly, however, the research field requires more comprehensive data on meritocracy at the subnational level.