Did the Euro Really Increase Corruption in the Eurozone? A Counterfactual Analysis

In this paper we apply the Synthetic Control Method developed by Abadie, Diamond and Hainmüeller (2010) to assess the extent to which the adoption of the euro has affected corruption in three groups of Eurozone countries: the core, southern and eastern countries. To do so, we construct counterfactuals for each group and for individual countries and compare them with the actual evolution of the corruption-control indicator. Except in the case of the Netherlands, where significant negative effects are detected, we find evidence that the adoption of the euro has either contributed to reducing corruption or has not affected it significantly.