Theoretical and Applied Economics
No. 4 / 2025 (645), Winter
Corruption in digital environments
Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Raluca Iuliana GEORGESCU
Bodislav & Associates, Romania
Abstract. The process by which individuals lose their psychological defences against normalizing corruption is known as cognitive immunity failure. The representation of corruption as inevitable, unchangeable, and self-reinforcing amplifies fatalistic narratives in algorithmically curated environments that are shaped by filter bubbles and echo chambers. By shifting reactions from initial outrage to numb indifference, these patterns weaken moral salience. Echo chambers repetitively assert fatalism through content alignment and repetition. At the same time, from a neuroeconomic perspective, the cost-benefit analysis shifts toward disengagement as repeated exposure devalues moral action, lowering the perceived expected reward of ethical engagement. This study examines how these dynamics, which are based on decision-value models, motivational fatigue, and social norms, reinforce one another and erode civic vigilance. We conclude by outlining three intervention frameworks: public education to restore cognitive immunity, norm-restoring campaigns that restore moral urgency, and AI design that combats narrative fatalism.
Contents
Dynamic risk spillovers in European Stock Markets: a TVP-VAR Approach
Co-movement and causality among exchange rates: a wavelet analysis
Financial development and economic growth in emerging economies: the mediating role of entrepreneurship
House prices and macroprudential policy in the Romanian economy: evidence from a BVAR analysis
The impact of short-run and long-run dynamics on manufacturing sector development in Indonesia and Malaysia
Purchasing Power Parity theory in exchange rate determination: evidences from the G-20 nations
Assessment of external macroeconomic imbalances in Romania
Remittances and domestic demand: evidence from Romania
How do energy consumption, natural resources, trade openness and FDI affect environmental quality in Algeria? Fresh insights from the novel DYNARDL simulations and KRLS approach
The acceleration of education: professors, AI platforms and the transformation of learning and human growth
Poverty, unemployment, and mental health: differential impacts among university graduates in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia
Assessing the relationship between institutions and economic development
Cedi depreciation and petroleum price shocks: economic interlinkages and macroeconomic implications
Effects of climate change on food security and sustainable development in Saudi Arabia: Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach
Corruption in digital environments
Beyond linearity: an ARDL threshold analysis of inflation's impact on Tanzania's economic growth from 1994 to 2024
Sustainable consumption and experimental economics – a bibliometric analysis
Heterogeneous and dynamic impacts of growth, urbanization, deforestation, and energy intensity on environmental degradation in Africa using the MM-Quantile regression method
Institutional governance in developing countries, political factors as drivers of institutional change: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa