"My dad left Bangladesh because he didn't want to raise kids in a country where he had to pay a bribe just to get a second phone line installed." In India we h

"My dad left Bangladesh because he didn't want to raise kids in a country where he had to pay a bribe just to get a second phone line installed." In India we had this problem, I have two anecdotes which demonstrate this. In 1992 we waited for over a year to get a phone line installed at our place. When the 'lineman' came, we offered him lunch, and I'm sure the dad paid him money for the service. Fast forward 12 years later in 2004. During this time, Indian government liberalized the telecom market and allowed private sector to provide telecom services. In 2004, my dad got a temporary phone line for the summer vacation so that I can have faster internet. He got it within 2 days of applying for it. Two months later when my dad wanted to cancel it, the telecom company people kept on trying to make him keep the connection. After an hour of negotiations (when they tried to sweeten the deal) they finally agreed to cancel it. I'm just saying that it was the same town, same group of people, the difference was clearly in the economic system they were following. The culture evolves in response to the systematic pressures. Change the system, and you'd change the culture.