Adam, I., H. Sanchez, A. and Fazekas, M. (2021). Global Public Procurement Open Competition Index. GTI-WP/2021:02, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

This evidence paper seeks to clearly outline the benefits of open competition in public procurement, review the policies fostering it and measuring competitive outcomes in carefully selected comparable markets across a wide array of countries. Our review of evidence regarding benefits of and policies for open competition is based on high-quality academic and policy offering reliable quantitative estimates. Our competition …

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Fazekas, M., Borges de Oliveira, A., Regös, N. (2021). Lowering Prices of Pharmaceuticals, Medical Supplies, and Equipment: Insights from Big Data for Better Procurement Strategies in Latin America. Policy Research Working Paper No. 9689. World Bank Group, Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

Containing rapidly growing health care costs in the Latin American and the Caribbean region, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, requires an in-depth analysis of prices from a novel perspective. This paper documents hitherto understudied variations in prices …

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Fazekas, M. and René Blum, J. (2021). Improving Public Procurement Outcomes: Review of Tools and the State of the Evidence Base. Policy Research Working Paper No. 9690. World Bank Group, Governance Global Practice.

Considering that about 15 percent of global gross domestic product flows through public procurement systems, the lack of systematic evidence on what works in this field is a major challenge for effective policy making. Hence, this paper systematically reviews the state of the evidence on major public …

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Adam, I., Fazekas, M. and Zellmann, C. (2021). Open and sustainable procurement. Towards deepened collaboration between reformers. GTI-WP/2021:01, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

Public procurement as a major area of government spending has the potential to act as a driver for social change and sustainable development. Its strategic use has recently gained traction with two related policy movements emerging: sustainable public procurement (SPP) and open contracting (OC). This paper explores paths towards a deepened collaboration between open and sustainable procurement advocates …

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Czibik, Á., Fazekas, M., Hernandez Sanchez, A. and Wachs, J. (2020). State Capture and Defence Procurement in the EU. GTI-WP/2020:05, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

This paper is part of a broader research project which aims to assess state capture risks in the field of defence procurement using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to overcome research challenges typical of this area, most of all the relatively low level of transparency due to specific procurement regulations. In this paper, we …

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Fazekas, M., Allakulov , U., Hernandez Sanchez, A. (2020). Water and Sanitation Sector Integrity Risk Index. GTI-WP/2020:04, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

We employ a data-driven approach to develop a composite Water Integrity Risk Index (WIRI) made up of a host of objective proxy indicators as well as survey-based measures of corruption experience to identify and assess integrity risks in the urban water and sanitation sector in selected settlements around the world. Unlike broader-scope corruption indices, the WIRI outlined in this …

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Dr Resimić, M. (2019). Public-private relationships in defence procurement in the EU: The case of the UK. GTI-WP/2019:04, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

Defence procurement is sensitive to corruption and state capture risks, because the government enforces secrecy and awards high value contracts to firms in a market dominated by a few large players (Pyman, Wilson & Scott, 2009; Courtney, Cockcroft & Murray, 2002). Defence procurement in the UK has some additional risks considering that around 50% of its contracts are …

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Renon, E. (2019). Does the Defence Industry Capture the State in France? GTI-WP/2019:03, London, UK: Government Transparency Institute.

State capture is the disproportionate and unregulated influence of interest groups or companies, where they manage to bend state laws, policies and regulations by paying illicit contributions to political parties and for election campaigns, buy parliamentary votes, presidential decrees or court decisions, as well as through illegitimate lobbying and revolving door appointments. State capture can also arise from the more subtle close …

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Brenner, D. and Fazekas, M. (2020). Legislative Effects of Regulatory Impact Assessment: A Comparative Event History Analysis of Modifications of Law in France, Italy, Hungary, and the UK. GTI-WP/2020:03, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

Regulatory instability, which is a frequent modification of adopted laws, is costly for society. Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) are designed to improve the quality of legislation, however, we know little about RIAs’ impact on legal stability. Therefore, this paper analyses whether RIAs influence the incidence and frequency …

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Adam, I. & Fazekas, M. (2020). Are emerging technologies helping win the fight against corruption? A review of the state of evidence. GTI-WP 2020:02, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is often thought of as a uniformly positive tool making governments more transparent, accountable, and less corrupt. However, the evidence on it is mixed and often misunderstood. Hence, this article carries out a systematic stocktaking of ICT tools’ impact on corruption, offering a nuanced and context-dependent assessment. …

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