Thesis to receive a master's degree (M.A)
Department of Economic Sciences
Summer 1390
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to identify the field of economic corruption in government tenders. To achieve this goal, after studying the theoretical research literature and identifying the main and secondary factors of economic corruption in government tenders, using the Delphi method and in two rounds of experts related to government tenders, a survey was conducted and the correctness of the identified items was tested. The results indicate that all the identified cases are among the causes of economic corruption in government tenders. In order to determine the importance of each of these factors, these factors were ranked using multi-criteria decision-making methods, including Analytical Hierarchy (AHP) and Topsis. The results show that among the four main factors identified (including the rent-seeking structure of government tenders, the politicization of the tendering process, bureaucratic authority and the weakness of regulatory mechanisms), according to experts, the most important factor is related to the weakness of regulatory mechanisms. Although the factor related to the rent-seeking structure, according to experts, it has a lower degree of importance than the rest of the factors; But in fact, economic corruption itself in government tenders is a rent-seeking action and is a method to obtain rents, and other underlying factors facilitate the access to rent resources; These factors, in coordination with each other, ultimately cause the relative price of corruption to decrease and as a result of its occurrence in public tenders.
Therefore, since economic corruption in government tenders is a result of huge sources of rent, the rent-seeking structure of tenders, and as a result of the inadequacy of the institutions, executive and supervision in the process of holding tenders; Any effort to reduce corruption should lead to the adjustment of the mentioned inadequacies; Otherwise, there will be no achievement but a waste of resources.
Key words: economic corruption, government tenders, rents, bribery, dominant role of the government, weakness in institutional arrangements, rent structure, hierarchical analysis, Delphi method.
« It is impossible to refrain from tasting honey or poison that touches the tip of the tongue, it is impossible for one who deals with government credits to avoid tasting at least a little of the wealth of the king. Kautila, Arthashastra 1-1 Introduction Resources, without a doubt, the maximum utilization of them and in other words the optimal allocation of resources, is the first issue and the most key concern of the guardians of any economic system. In this direction, all arrangements and measures are made with the focus of economic policy in order to realize this importance, and in this way, the short-term and long-term macroeconomic goals of the government are followed. In the meantime, what has been raised as a serious challenge and which causes distortions in the economic system is the category of economic corruption.
Economic corruption, which is interpreted as the misuse of government power, facilities, authority and positions to secure personal, group, party, ethnic or special class interests, has a history as old as human society and Only for any course. It is not specific in political history and it is not specific to any specific country. Although the form that financial corruption has taken has changed throughout history and from one nation to another, it is considered a widespread and continuous disease both in the financial systems of the domination of the demand and in the democratic government systems. Moin, one of the main areas and bottlenecks of economic corruption can be seen in government corruption, which itself has its roots in the government's intervention in economic processes and the distribution of resources among different groups. Many experts consider corruption to be a phenomenon related to the government, and government tenders are one of the most risky economic processes of the government..
Government tenders, i.e. the purchase of a product by a government official at the lowest price and with a certain quality, due to the expansion of the government's construction activities in recent years in various fields, especially the fields related to road construction and housing, as well as the activities related to the urban services sector, are experiencing a growing trend, and therefore, considering the share of approx. 15% of tenders in GDP is of special importance. The increase in the volume of these tenders, despite the special conditions governing the economic system of our country, has also caused many challenges and risks. Therefore, the tender as one of the main counters of the relationship between the government and the private sector has been taken into consideration in this research for investigation and pathology. According to the studies, it seems that in our country there are countless opportunities to achieve large profits and windfalls (various rents) due to the inappropriateness of the existing structures and institutional framework in the process of holding Government tenders have been created. In this way, due to the intervention of the government and its excessive dominance over the economy, the establishment of government restrictions and monopolies, low transparency in the economic system and especially in the process of holding tenders, the influence of politicians and government men and their non-responsiveness to public opinion, the lack of continuous, accurate and efficient controls, as well as the weak and under-influenced judicial system. to large profits and windfalls due to the misuse of government laws and regulations (rent-seeking), which has provided a very suitable platform for the growth of economic corruption. In fact, economic corruption in this sector is a way to obtain rents resulting from it. Rent-seeking and then economic corruption in government tenders, on the one hand, leads to disruption of the economic system and deprives the country of having a healthy economic system, and on the other hand, the spread of economic corruption, with the philosophy and basis of holding tenders, which is actually the exploitation of the public sector from the cheapest and most The highest quality service is aimed at serving the public, it has serious contradictions. In other words, it can be said that rent-seeking and, as a result, economic corruption in government tenders destroys the nature of holding tenders and causes waste of resources. Therefore, it seems that there is a serious determination on the part of the authorities to control rent-seeking opportunities in government tenders that bring nothing but economic corruption. It is necessary. Considering this point and targeting the main essence of corruption, the government should reduce the role of the government in the economy, de-monopoly, expand the competitive environment and create market mechanisms in the allocation of resources. Then, by creating appropriate institutional arrangements for transparency; which requires accurate documentation and information.
Although in the new tenders law approved in 1383, a good establishment called the National Tender Information Database has been added to achieve this, but due to the lack of full implementation of the law, even after several years of its approval, economic corruption in tenders continues to grow. It experiences.
According to this introduction, first in the first chapter of this research, we will discuss the importance of the subject and the issue. The purpose of conducting this research, the research questions, the scope of the research and the method of doing it are the next topic of this chapter, which also includes the statement of limitations. The second chapter is divided into four parts. The first part is devoted to the background of research in Iran and the world. In the following sections, we will review the literature on economic corruption and tenders, and in the last section, which is the most important part of this chapter, by citing examples of economic corruption in government tenders, the grounds for its creation will be analyzed. The third chapter examines the research method, how to collect information and the method of data analysis. In the fourth chapter, the analysis of the information obtained from the questionnaire, which was conducted using the Delphi method, is discussed, and in the second chapter, we discuss the ranking of the identified factors that are effective in the exchange of economic corruption in government tenders.