Arab Spring, democratization of corruption, and income inequality
利用1996-2019年中东与北非国家面板数据，研究发现阿拉伯之春改变了腐败与收入不平等的关系，使腐败更民主化，从而减弱了腐败对不平等的正向影响。
Abstract How do political crises affect the interaction between economic and political outcomes? In this paper, we study one of the consequences of political turmoil by empirically examining whether the Arab Spring influenced the relationship between corruption and income inequality. Using panel data from 1996 to 2019 for the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, we find that while corruption is positively associated with income inequality, the interaction term between corruption and the Arab Spring is negatively associated with income inequality. This result is consistent with the view that corruption has become more democratized after the Arab Spring. We use instrumental variable (IV) analysis to address potential endogeneity issues. Our findings suggest that not only studying the direct effects of political crises on economic and institutional variables is important, but studying their effects on shaping the association between economic and institutional variables can be insightful.