Money laundering, corruption and socioeconomic development in Iran: an analysis by structural equation modeling

Abstract This paper aims to assess the effects of money laundering (ML) and corruption on socioeconomic development in Iran as a case study for developing countries. We also investigate complex interactions among development, ML, corruption, private expenditure, dependence Iranian economy oil production. The uses partial least squares approach structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) estimate an index ML over period 1997–2017. results show that short run, there is positive overall effect economic development. due multiplicative reinvestment criminal proceeds national economy. that, last decade, plausible approximately 10% official GDP. From methodological perspective, this research applies new calibration convert latent scores calculated by PLS-SEM into actual values ML.