Corruption, Licensing and Elections - A New Analysis Framework

This paper analyses corruption and licensing in conjunction with elections in Albania. The paper develops an analysis framework utilizing datasets of two types of national licenses, namely licenses for media and notaries about which there have been concerns of transparency in Albania. In the months preceding elections, a higher number of both types of licenses are issued. One possible explanation for the "intensification of licensing" during pre-election months may be corruption, given that licensing is widely perceived as related to corruption in countries with high levels of corruption such as Albania.