CORRUPTION AND TALL BUILDINGS: A CROSS-COUNTRY STUDY

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the impact of corruption level on the number of tall buildings of a country. With numerous economic developments happening globally, especially in emerging economies in Asia and the Middle East, much focus has been placed on attraction of foreign investments into a country. Real Estate is a capital-intensive industry which requires the help of foreign investment. The past five years have seen a significant increase in the number of tall buildings lining city skylines, resulting in increasing interest in the topic of skyscrapers. Employing a random effects panel data regression model, the study finds significance in the number of tall buildings of a country and the level of corruption, where higher levels of corruption will result in fewer tall buildings. A closer look was done at income levels and the type of leadership of countries and whether they affected this relationship. Higher income countries see their investment markets more significantly affected by corruption than lower income countries. On the other hand, the type of leadership governing a country does not have a significant effect on the relationship between corruption and tall buildings. The results extend to the level of corruption and real estate investment markets, through tall building observations.