Causes of Corruption
Which underlying features of a social order predict and possibly cause corruption? Some of the answers may surprise you.
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Do you think the gap in corruption between the first world former colonies of the UK (US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia) and the developing nation former colonies (such as Nigeria) might be warping the studies on corruption in former British colonies? How corrupt are the latter in comparison when you separate them from the former?
This lecture enlighten to me how ideological and dependent of judges of value can be any discussion about "corruption" in abstract. It is very easy to fit moral ideas with those analysis, nut I think it is a futile exercise, maybe is more useful to focus in specific practices under specific circumstances than spoke in general on a general construct called "corruption", Frankly I can´t see the utility to discuss on "causes of corruption" in general and think that if we are protestants, democrats, open to imports, etc. we will trow away "corruption". I think it is not a moral issue but a simple cost/benefits issue: anyone will be "corrupt" -in general terms- if the benefits -all considered- outperform the costs, so I think it is a case to case issue, can not be treated in general.
I wonder that Hypothesis #10 has no clear impact for more corruption. Maybe a comparison between decades makes less sense then a comparison between countries. I think a country like Nigeria is a good example for the so-called resource curse. Also see some more arguments here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse#Corruption
If one think on corruption without moral prejudices, it is only one of the possible courses of action and, like other courses has cost and benefices. A moralistic approach assumes always an evil intention, but causes of corruption may vary and sometimes has nothing to do with good or evil intentions. Abusive laws, possibility of impunity, bad incentives to fair competing are also causes of corruption and are important causes, most of people in equality of cost/benefits prefer to be fair but the government is often the perpetrator, not the victim of corruption as often is described. When incentives and rational behavior are for broke the laws, people will broke it, even the saints.