Corruption Perceptions Index

A posting on The Asia Pages "A Different Point of View", suggesting that the average Korean's view of corruption was that the people who were caught deserved to get caught because they were not smart enough to get away with the crime, got me thinking because of one of the comments:

But isn't the observation quite meaningless unless it can be shown or at least legitimately hinted at that there is more corruption in Korea? (Jung's comment)

Over the years, I have heard many Koreans say that same thing that Jodi did, so I am quite willing to accept her comment. The most common attitude that I have come across is that inept crooks deserve to be caught and punished, more for their ineptness than for the crime. However, Jung's comment seemed reasonable to me, so I went looking for evidence.

With a score of 5.1 out of 10, I think that Korea has a problem (Canada has an 8.5 - we still have a ways to go obviously).

Looking at the map also makes me wonder why the yellow countries (with the exception of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan) are all western countries. As the world's economies globalize and companies become multinational, I hope that corruption becomes less and less acceptable.

What are the costs of corruption? (from Transparency International)
The cost of corruption is four-fold: political, economic, social, and environmental.On the political front, corruption constitutes a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law. In a democratic system, offices and institutions lose their legitimacy when they are misused for private advantage. Though this is harmful in the established democracies, it is even more so in newly emerging ones. Accountable political leadership can not develop in a corrupt climate.Economically, corruption leads to the depletion of national wealth. It is often responsible for the funnelling of scarce public resources to uneconomic high-profile projects, such as dams, power plants, pipelines and refineries, at the expense of less spectacular but more necessary infrastructure projects such as schools, hospitals and roads, or the supply of power and water to rural areas. Furthermore, it hinders the development of fair market structures and distorts competition, thereby deterring investment.The effect of corruption on the social fabric of society is the most damaging of all. It undermines people's trust in the political system, in its institutions and its leadership. Frustration and general apathy among a disillusioned public result in a weak civil society. That in turn clears the way for despots as well as democratically elected yet unscrupulous leaders to turn national assets into personal wealth. Demanding and paying bribes become the norm. Those unwilling to comply often emigrate, leaving the country drained of its most able and most honest citizens. Environmental degradation is yet another consequence of corrupt systems. The lack of, or non-enforcement of, environmental regulations and legislation has historically allowed the North to export its polluting industry to the South. At the same time, careless exploitation of natural resources, from timber and minerals to elephants, by both domestic and international agents has led to ravaged natural environments. Environmentally devastating projects are given preference in funding, because they are easy targets for siphoning off public money into private pockets.