Corruption

Abstract

Corruption has been part of social interaction since the beginning of humanity. People have always wheeled and dealed, given and taken, sought position, benefits, and privileges. In modern societies there are laws that prohibit public officials from receiving benefits other than salary, and an expectation that in the private sector business undertakings will be conducted with integrity. This does not always occur, and there is considerable analysis of the causes and experiences of corrupt behavior as well as of the mechanisms that could be used to prevent it. Rather than define corruption, one might try to understand the suite of behaviors that are deemed corrupt, and these will vary from society to society, and will be treated differently in different types of societies. In essence, corruption involves the abuse of public position or entrusted office in return for private gain. It involves the unauthorized trading of entrusted authority. It may manifest itself in different ways, in bribery, extortion, conflict of interest, a public official hiring one’s own company for government contracts, hiring unqualified friends or family members for government jobs, and so on. Sometimes there is a corrupt person in an organization, sometimes the whole organization is corrupt, or sometimes the society tolerates corruption on a grand scale. These variations lead to different interpretations and analyses of the concept. When a public official does wrong things, or fails to do what he or she should do, or does something permissible, but purposely does it in an improper manner, then there is a strong suspicion of corrupt behavior. The World Economic Forum estimates that corruption costs about 5 percent of global GDP (about $2.6 trillion), while the World Bank estimates that about $1 trillion per year is paid in bribes and about $40 billion per year is skimmed or looted by political leaders. On an everyday basis corruption hurts the public and undermines government. The impacts of corruption severely and disproportionally affect the poorest and most vulnerable in any society, and when it is widespread, corruption deters investment, weakens economic growth and undermines the basis for law and order. In wealthier countries corruption pushes taxes to higher levels than they need be, and reduces services to lesser quality than they might be.