Quora: How corrupt is the US government?
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 6:06 pm
Without doing the math, the US seems to rank the highest on corruption score to something like GDP. I can accept that.We're doing pretty well. We're no Canada, but who is?
From Corruption Perceptions Index:
Since 1995, Transparency International (TI) has published the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) annually ranking countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private benefit."
The CPI currently ranks 176 countries "on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt)." Methods
Transparency International commissioned Johann Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau to produce the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The 2012 CPI draws on 13 different surveys and assessments from 12 different institutions.[5] The institutions are the African Development Bank, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House, Global Insight, International Institute for Management Development, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, Political Risk Services, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the World Justice Project.
Countries must be assessed by at least three sources to appear in the CPI. The 13 surveys/assessments are either business people opinion surveys or performance assessments from a group of analysts. Early CPIs used public opinion surveys.
The CPI measures perception of corruption due to the difficulty of measuring absolute levels of corruption.
Validity
A study published in 2002 found a "very strong significant correlation" between the Corruption Perceptions Index and two other proxies for corruption: Black Market activity and overabundance of regulation. All three metrics also had a highly significant correlation with real gross domestic product per capita (RGDP/Cap). The Corruption Perceptions Index correlation with RGDP/Cap was the strongest.
Criticism
Because corruption is willfully hidden, it is impossible to measure directly; instead, proxies for corruption are used. Media outlets frequently use the raw numbers as a yardstick for government performance, without clarifying what the numbers mean. The local Transparency International chapter in Bangladesh disowned the index results after a change in methodology caused the country's scores to increase; media reported it as an "improvement".
In a 2013 article in Foreign Policy, Alex Cobham suggested that CPI should be dropped for the good of Transparency International. It argues that the CPI embeds a powerful and misleading elite bias in popular perceptions of corruption, potentially contributing to a vicious cycle and at the same time incentivizing inappropriate policy responses. Cobham resumes: "the index corrupts perceptions to the extent that it's hard to see a justification for its continuing publication."
In the United States, many lawyers advise international businesses to consult the CPI when attempting to measure the risk of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in different nations. This practice has been criticized, since the CPI may be subject to perceptual biases and therefore should not be considered by lawyers to be a measure of actual national corruption risk. Conclusion
The United States is not the worst place in the world. Generally there is the assumption that because the United States is powerful it is inherently corrupt. The size and influence of the nation invites While by no means do I suggest that the system is flawless, there are much worse places to deal with, from a corporate, political or individual standpoint. For outsiders this is to be suspected, but when I see it in other Americans I can only assume that it comes down to a lack of understanding of what really goes on in the rest of the world. American's don't face corruption in their day to day lives almost ever. If there is major corruption it is usually in the field of a single company or individuals, such as Enron or Bernie Madoff. When these are discovered, it is well known that they are very publicly crucified for their actions. When it takes place in the government, what is often the case is that corruption is the misused term for "incompetence". Sometimes heavy responsibility is placed on inept managers and the failures that arise will always fall under suspicion. Too many, however, are too quick to assume that anything as big as the US simply must be doing nothing but evil deeds and since it is currently the most powerful nation in the world, it must also be the most evil and corrupt. Most of the accusations seem to fall into the realm of conspiracy theories and rhetoric, watering down the term altogether. This narrow minded sort of pessimism is what it is, but if you really don't believe me you can always try to live out a few years in Iran and let me know how that works out.
Also, the conclusion makes an important point. People sometimes misattribute incompetence to corruption. Plus, people are damn cynical.
A few interesting comments:
There seems to be a direct correlation between the lack of corruption perception on this map and the overall desirability of each country as a place to live. Canada, Scandinavia and the Antipodes always seem to come top of those surveys too, followed by the rest of Western Europe, US, Japan and so on.
Aharon KonfortiChristopher StantonAharon Konforti
I usually get frustrated by Quora images which, even enlarged, fail to show my beloved "shitty little country". This one time, however, Israel's blue-ish color makes a nice, welcome, sharp contrast with all (ALL) of our neighbors.
Heh!
Well it should. The Muslim Middle East's endemic corruption is one solid measure of why the entire region is so horribly effed up. If it's so-called leadership is so predatory (with respect to screwing their own people), the violence with which Muslims treat each other in general should come as no surprise.
One strong reason to keep Israel as their scapegoat of choice. I believe our success must piss those leaderships off!
Thanks, Chris!
And a little Obama jab (with some supporting evidence) for good measure:I came from one of those countries labeled in red in the map. I must say coming to the US showed me almost the opposite end of the corruption scale. I won't say that the US is perfect, but at least Americans are less tolerant on corruption, whereas in my country corruption is a norm.
Actually, in recent years America underwent a slight decline. At one point we slipped to something like #22 (in 2010) and, at worst, #24 (in 2011). Right now, we're back to #19 but that is not the #18 or #17 we used to be when I first started following TI.
If you check TI's earliest index (see: http://archive.transparency.org/policy_ ... s_cpi/1998), America ranks #17. So, there has been a gradual slide with which I am not at all happy.
Personally, I find it conspicuous that America's worst decline (according to the TI index), has been under the administration of a politician whose original hometown (Chicago) is one of the most corrupt in the entire USA.
What would be really interesting is to see is America's standing with respect to the correlation between global corruption and disparity of income. That could prove one of the most damning of all.