COMBATING CORRUPTION

Fighting poverty is a popular cause these days. But if do-gooders are serious about reducing global poverty, fighting corruption is one of the best places to start, says the Wall Street Journal.



Consider:



Corruption keeps poor countries poor by squirreling away resources in the hands of elites, who spend the gains on, at best, inefficient public works and at worst, private ends.

Corruption also drives away foreign investment and discourages local entrepreneurs from starting new businesses.

According to Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index (which 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):



The world's poorest countries -- Burma or Bangladesh, etc. -- languish at the bottom of the list, while the world's richest countries get top marks.

Some 40 percent of the countries that have "rampant" corruption are also desperately poor -- a trend that's endured since the poll's inception in 1995.

That doesn't mean that corrupt countries don't attract investment, says the Journal. China, which tied with India at a middling rank, pulled down $63 billion of foreign direct investment, despite widespread corruption in the Communist Party ranks. But imagine how much money the mainland would receive if it made a more serious effort to bolster its legal system and enforce clean business practices -- like Hong Kong does, which ranks number 14.



Source: Editorial, "Combating Corruption," Wall Street Journal, October 2, 2007.