> Naive prosecutions of corruption can, ironically, institutionalize it. Um. How? Well, if only new players and small fish get caught up in bribery charges (b

> Naive prosecutions of corruption can, ironically, institutionalize it. Um. How? Well, if only new players and small fish get caught up in bribery charges (because the big and old players are so institutionalized they have almost no exposure and thus no risk outside of vendettas and such), bribery and prosecution of bribery actually ends up looking like the barriers for entry we see in over-regulated industries. Many times the biggest companies in a given industry actually lobby for onerous regulations because they know how to get around them (or can simply afford the immense costs with all their existing wealth), meanwhile they sleep easily at night knowing that new players are going to be burning cash with insane risk exposure just trying to get a foothold in a system of perverse incentives and broken policy. Bribery at the local level could very easily function in the same way to further stratify the local money/power structures.