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Corruption correlated to Doing Business

The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, out today, "reinforces [the] link between poverty and corruption [and] shows the machinery of corruption remains well-oiled, despite improved legislation." Transparency International finds that corruption is "rampant" in almost half the countries on the list. Brazil and the US are among those with an increase in perceived corruption, while India and Turkey are perceived as less corrupt this year. Press release, data, and map.

Corruption is also strongly correlated with a country's position on our Doing Business rankings. Each procedure a business must follow represents an opportunity for a bribe. Fewer interactions with government bureaucrats, less opportunity for corruption. I took a quick look and plotted all countries that are ranked in both indices - my graph is after the jump.

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Comments

Corruption is very difficult to measure, if we want that measure to mean anything. Let me explain. In Maine, we already have "clean election funding". It's been a great success, and, political candidates have been eagerly lining up to get their sacks of money from the State. The idea behind "clean election funding", is to reduce the sacks of money lobbyists ply their trade with. Of course, human nature being what it is, just because politicians in Maine get a sack of money from the State, that doesn't necessarily preclude them from accepting a sack of money from some lobbyist to pass some urgently needed legislation. The only problem I have with the scheme as a taxpayer is, when the State hands over the sack of money into which I have contributed, what is it that the State is paying for? Don Robertson, The American Philosopher Limestone, Maine An Illustrated Philosophy Primer for Young Readers Precious Life - Empirical Knowledge The Grand Unifying Theory & The Theory of Time http://www.geocities.com/donaldwrobertson/index.html Art Auctions: http://www.artbyus.com/auctions.php?a=6&b=4807

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