More freedom. If government doesn't prohibit or overregulate a thing, there is no chance of there being corruption about that thing. So, for example, when the S

More freedom. If government doesn't prohibit or overregulate a thing, there is no chance of there being corruption about that thing. So, for example, when the Soviet Union was around and the economy was tightly regulated and commerce was tightly restricted, corruption abounded. It still abounds in areas of high government involvement. For example, if government has few regulations on starting a business, there little need for corruption. If, however, there are a lot of regulations, then the result will be that you need to "payoff" local officials in order to open and operate a business. The question then becomes: why do eastern peoples tend to tolerate big, intrusive governments and western people tend to like freedom?