http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/12/corruption-and-development
This link provides an interesting explanation and graphic representation of corruption, in the form of the Corruption Perceptions Index, as it compares to the Human Development Index which provides a combined measure of education, health and wealth. It relates to our discussion of efficiency and corruption in class. It was especially interesting to me to look at the countries that were high in corruption and low on the HDI scale that may be affected negatively affected by the corruption in their country. Particularly their economies will be hurt by the lack of external investment when investors feel uncertain about the economic environment and the potential for major gains. These countries were largely located on the African continent and war torn countries such as Afghanistan and Sudan. It will be important to follow the policies undertaken to address the perceptions and realities of public-level graft, as corruption can have major political implications in a country. The outliers of Greece and Italy as more developed states, but with a higher perception of corruption can be compared to the outliers of the other extreme such as Cape Verde, Bhutan and Botswana that are less developed countries, but have a lower perception of corruption than many states in their region.
2 comments:
It seems obvious (both in terms of data and common sense) that corruption is horrible for economic efficiency. However, I found it hard to believe that corruption could have as powerful of a connection to HDI as the graph showed. When I read the names of the countries, it seems like there is an effect both ways- if institutions in a nation were worse off, the GDP/Capita and correlated HDI measure would also be poor. In addition, the system would be more prone to corruption simply because of it was susceptible. In addition, the corruption would hurt HDI and GDP/Capita anymore due to its inefficiency.
This seems like a hard cycle to break, since better institutions require a more stable economy. I would be curious to see what methods certain countries used to break out of rampant corruption and grow to use more efficient systems.
i believe there is a connection between HDI and corruption, but it shouldn't be too strong.
For a really poor and underdeveloped country, there is nothing too much for people to "currupt". But for some countries without high HDI, big inequlity, or have some precious resources, the connection may be much weaker than others.
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