Issue: № 5, 2026
Doi: https://doi.org/10.37634/efp.2026.5.1e
The paper examines economic corruption as a complex socio-economic phenomenon that negatively impacts Ukraine’s economic development, investment climate, social justice, and trust in state institutions. The essence of corruption, its typology, and classification by sphere of prevalence, actors, objects, nature of benefits, and level of centralization are analyzed. It distinguishes between economic, political, and state corruption; individual, entrepreneurial, and criminal forms of illicit benefits; monetary and non-financial benefits; as well as vertical, deregulated, bottom-up, top-down, and international corruption. The fundamental, organizational, and sociocultural causes of corruption are examined. Fundamental causes are linked to the imperfection of economic institutions and policies; organizational causes – to «state weakness» and the low effectiveness of governance mechanisms; and sociocultural causes – to historical traditions, the level of cultural development, and the moral qualities of officials. Three levels of corruption manifestation have been identified: the formation of the financial base of shadow groups and illegal financing; the pathology of the “permissive” functions of state institutions; and the pathology of the regulatory functions of state bodies, in particular the determination of taxes, quotas, and regulatory parameters. The authors propose a conceptual model of resource allocation in the economy that takes corruption factors into account, demonstrating the impact of corruption on the transformation of resource flows and the efficiency of market processes. A comprehensive analysis of economic corruption allows us to identify its driving forces and consequences, and also creates a scientific basis for developing effective anti-corruption mechanisms, improving state regulation, and ensuring Ukraine’s economic security.
Keywords : economic corruption, illicit gains, public officials, political corruption, corporate corruption, typology of corruption, socio-economic factors, anti-corruption policy, economic security
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