Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.95.970220203543.144C-100000@rideau> Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 20:53:37 -0500 From: Anton Ljutic <mailto:wcsanton@CCS.CARLETON.CA> Subject: Re: Mexican vacation To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
David,Have you considered the possibility that graft is just another way of allocating the resources? These petty bribes are a supplement to the lowly income which these officials earn. It's "user pay", but with a twist: the poor pay LESS, as a rule. So, it's an "ability to pay" tax. It keeps the official taxes low :-)
Our atavistic giving of the "tip" is a remnant of this system, I think. The tip also supplements the income of the recipient and is taken into consideration by the employer.
Graft becomes a problem when it leads to "closing and eye" to crime. But according to my readings, the US polictical system or the NYPD is not immune to graft, which has not prevented the US from calling itself (or being) a "developed" country.
I also think that graft is not a "cultural" problem or anything to do with lack of integrity. Rather, it seems to me to be a structural problem: Graft is hard to stifle unless one is prepared to compensate the recipient in some other way.
These are just quick, on-line responses on my part. I'd be interested to hear the opinions of others. But no long polemics, PLEASE.
Anton Ljutic Canada