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Well, according to Transparency International, north-western European, Japan, and Anglo countries are overall less corrupt: https://www.transparency.org/news/fe

Well, according to Transparency International, north-western European, Japan, and Anglo countries are overall less corrupt: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017 https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_percept... However, do notice that a lot of pretty corrupt countries (south and eastern Europe, China, South Korea, some parts of Latin America) are still comparatively very rich. So it seems that corruption is not the _only_ problem, but it's certainly one.

the_watcher 8y ago
When I studied comparative politics in college, we were taught two types of corruption - centralized (generally meaning that the government is corrupt) and decentralized (generally meaning that every interaction is potentially corrupt). While both aren't great, decentralized tends to be more disruptive to the rule of law, as in centrally corrupt nations, it's easier to price the cost in and plan for it than decentrally corrupt countries. The classic example was in centralized corruption, you knew that at certain points on your drive across the country, you'd hit roadblocks where the fastest solution is to pay a bribe to the soldier or civil servant. In decentralized corruption, those roadblocks might appear anywhere, created by anyone.
- lubonay 8y ago
  Interesting, though I doubt that there are real-world examples of purely centralized and purely decentralized corruption. Also, is centralized corruption a subset of decentralized? I'm from Bulgaria and it looks like we have plenty of both types here. Come to think of it, the whole Balkan region looks like decentralized corruption on a large scale - there is no central authority that can take your bribe and let you get on with your business in peace.