Thursday, November 22, 2007

More Government Control = More Corruption

World Corruption Map
From Transparency International: The 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) looks at perceptions of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories - the greatest country coverage of any CPI to date – and is a composite index that draws on 14 expert opinion surveys. It scores countries on a scale from zero to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption (see world map above, click to enlarge).

A strong correlation between corruption and poverty continues to be evident. Forty percent of those scoring below three, indicating that corruption is perceived as rampant, are classified by the World Bank as low income countries. Somalia and Myanmar share the lowest score of 1.4, while Denmark has edged up to share the top score of 9.4 with perennial high-flyers Finland and New Zealand.


Notice a pattern? The greater the degree of free market capitalism, the greater the income levels and the less corruption (see the yellow and orange areas on the map). The greater the degree of government control over the economy, the lower the income levels and the greater the corruption (see the red and brown areas on the map). In other words, there appears to be a direct and positive relationship between the size of government and the amount corruption in a country.

(HT: Captain Capitalism)

17 Comments:

At 11/23/2007 2:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Notice a pattern? The greater the degree of free market capitalism, the greater the income levels and the less corruption...

Perception does not equal reality and therefore your conclusion regarding actual corruption is not exactly correct.

A strong correlation between corruption and poverty continues to be evident.

Do you assume that where poverty is found in the U.S. that corruption and lack of free market capitalism is to blame?

 
At 11/23/2007 10:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Do you assume that where poverty is found in the U.S. that corruption and lack of free market capitalism is to blame?"

Actually, I think that is a pretty safe assumption. As an example, I'd submit the local governments in cities that have the highest amounts of poverty in the US. Most ARE plagued by high taxes, a welfare mentality and corruption.

 
At 11/23/2007 11:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jeez, Mark...

Did you notice that the social democracies of northern Europe (like your favorite, Sweden) are less corrupt than the United States?

PS -- How are those bank stocks looking? Going to re-post the article you DELETED from last week declaring the end of the credit crisis?

 
At 11/23/2007 11:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

holymoly said...

PS -- How are those bank stocks looking? Going to re-post the article you DELETED from last week declaring the end of the credit crisis?


holymoly, are you referring to the article titled: "Bank Stocks Recover: Worst of Credit Crisis Over?"

Formerly found at mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/11/...
...bank-stocks-recover-worst-of-credit.html

 
At 11/23/2007 12:06 PM, Blogger juandos said...

anon @ 2:20 am says: "Do you assume that where poverty is found in the U.S. that corruption and lack of free market capitalism is to blame?"...

Can you say, "New Orleans" anon?

 
At 11/23/2007 1:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

anonymous at 11:52. Yep -- that's the one.

 
At 11/23/2007 3:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

From the inspiration for the original blog article... Transparency International

“Despite some gains, corruption remains an enormous drain on resources sorely needed for education, health and infrastructure,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International. “Low scoring countries need to take these results seriously and act now to strengthen accountability in public institutions. But action from top scoring countries is just as important, particularly in cracking down on corrupt activity in the private sector.”

If corruption and lack of a free market capitalism is to blame for poverty does it not follow that a significant source of poverty in the U.S. (a top scoring country) is private sector corruption?

 
At 11/23/2007 4:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A private sector entity can't be corrupt unless it has a willing, corruptable government, whether federal, state or local. Get rid of the corruption in government and those in the private sector who feed on corruption will disappear.

 
At 11/23/2007 4:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

No one with any experience of Sweden would paint it bright yellow. I call shenanigans on this chart.

 
At 11/23/2007 10:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

anonymous at 4:51

I stand in awe of your fact-laden presentation. Well done!

 
At 11/24/2007 8:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

holymoly, that's funny coming from someone who tried to make the connection that because a country is a social democracy, it must be why they are less corrupt...without any evidence.

 
At 11/24/2007 10:12 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

alex --

OK, you cannot possibly be as dumb as that post. I was simply referring to the data on the freaking map that the article was about! See those light yellow countries at the top of Europe (you know where that is, right?). That's Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Notice the key on the map? Light yellow means "least corrupt." See the United States? Not light yellow.

 
At 11/24/2007 10:27 AM, Blogger juandos said...

I see nothing at the Transparency International site that speaks of their credibility in judging which country is and is not corrupt...

Standards? What are the standards they use?

Who are these people at Transparency? There is nothing to indicate any of the individuals calling the shots on their about us page...

A look at the advisory council shows me at least that this council is made up of clueless, corrupt, socialist libtards of the worst sort...

I can see why the socialist countries alluded to by holymoly get such high scores relatively speaking...

This is just another propaganda bit by liberal socialists...

Complete and utter nonsense...

 
At 11/24/2007 1:40 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

In other words, there appears to be a direct and positive relationship between the size of government and the amount corruption in a country.

Witness libertarian, small-government anarchic paradises of Sweden and France versus welfare-state social-democratic Afghanistan and Somalia.

 
At 11/24/2007 3:52 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"Witness libertarian, small-government anarchic paradises of Sweden and France"...

Hmmm, on which planet are each these alledged paradises located on?

You failed to mention that part of it...

 
At 8/08/2008 4:10 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

"Corruption keeps us warm, corruption keeps us from fighting out in the streets for food, corruption is why we win." I'm sure you've seen Syriana. Ayways, this is in response to Mccain's ads expressing that Obama wants larger government, greater taxes, which equate to fewer jobs. I think that this is a non-sequitur. It does not always equal fewer jobs. Everyone in under communism worked, it just turned out to be a bad idea is all. Some people call Obama a socialist. No, he is a realist. The fundamental collapse of the argument is when people disconnect the fact that it is the PEOPLE that make up the government. Not some over-arching entity that controls us, although this is debatable now. If Obama gets his wish, giving a little bit more money in terms of taxes would be welcomed, as long as I get to see immediate returns in (i.e. rebuilding infrastructure, manufacturing, industiral, and green jobs). If we can turn America around and get on a new track, I see nothing wrong with allowing government to get bigger to provide mroe subsidies to homegrown jobs. So, in this sense, Mccain's logic is fallacious.

 
At 1/09/2009 10:29 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Interestingly, the coutries with the most government involvement in the free world - the Nordic countries, are shining with low corruption :-)

 

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