The Mediator Role of Economic Freedom in the Effect of Corruption Perception on National Happiness: A Case of World Countries

Abstract

The concept of economic freedom refers to the state of citizens in a nation to take economic action freely. Economic freedom determines the structure of an economic system. On the other hand, national happiness refers to the national happiness value based on the scores of citizens regarding their own lives. This happiness is also associated with various quality of life factors. Trust in the government, in other words, the perception of corruption, is one of the factors used in the measurement of national happiness as well as being effective on national happiness. In this study, the effect of corruption perception on national happiness was investigated and it was examined whether there was a mediating effect of economic freedom between these two variables. In this context, the mean scores of the Perceptions of Corruption Index presented by Transparency International, the World Happiness Index presented by the United Nations, and the Economic Freedom Index presented by the Heritage Foundation between 2012 and 2020 are discussed. According to the results obtained in this study, which was conducted on 150 countries by applying Linear Regression Analysis and Sobel Test, it was found that the perception of corruption is related to national happiness, and economic freedom has a mediating effect in this relationship.

Keywords

• ulusal mutluluk
• yolsuzluk
• ekonomik özgürlük
• aracılık analizi
• national happiness
• corruption
• economic freedom
• mediation analysis