Corruption, Growth, and Unemployment as Correlates of Entrepreneurial Activity in the Philippines: A Time-Series Analysis, 2006–2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65166/pf7ajt16Keywords:
entrepreneurship, control of corruption, institutional quality, economic growth, unemployment, new business registration, PhilippinesAbstract
This study examined the relationship between entrepreneurial activity, measured by new business registrations, and three governance and macroeconomic indicators in the Philippines: control of corruption, GDP per capita growth, and the unemployment rate. Using a descriptive-correlational design with publicly available secondary data from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) database, the study analyzed an annual country-level time series covering 2006 to 2022 (N = 17). Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients showed that control of corruption was strongly and significantly positively correlated with new business registrations, r(15) = .75, p < .001, and that the unemployment rate was strongly and significantly negatively correlated, r(15) = -.66, p = .004. GDP per capita growth showed a moderate positive but statistically non-significant correlation, r(15) = .40, p = .109. These results indicate that institutional quality, specifically control of corruption, was the most robust and theoretically consistent correlate of formal entrepreneurial activity among the three variables examined. The negative unemployment relationship, while counterintuitive at first glance, is interpreted in light of prior literature indicating that joblessness disproportionately drives informal, unincorporated self-employment rather than formally registered business creation. The study is correlational in design and delimited to a single-country annual time series; its findings should not be interpreted causally. Recommendations for policy and for future research, including an extension to panel data across ASEAN economies, are discussed.
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