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National Cultures, Corruption Practices and Corruption Indices Cont...

Australia, which was among most corrupt before 100 years,5 is among the least corrupt countries in 2008 CPI. The African and Asian nations which were left with their new gained independence and poverty are the most corrupted. The governance structure of a country can also be related to the corruption levels in the country. In TI's CPI 2008, which covered 180 countries, 90% of the 60 least corrupt societies in the world are democracies and the remaining non-democracies are small city states and about 60% of the 60 most corrupt countries are autocracies6 .

Though corruption can happen in different forms, bribery seems to be the most prevalent and visible form across countries. Bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient’s conduct. It may be money, privilege, emolument, object of value, advantage, or merely a promise which can influence the decision of an official or other person in discharge of a public or legal duty. Some other common forms of corruption are favouritism, money laundering, insider trading, illicit tax practices, embezzlements and kickbacks. The World Bank suggests the evolution of corruption as a very large 'industry' with an annual estimated worldwide bribery of about $1 trillion.7 The $1 trillion figure, calculated using 2001-2002 economic data compares with an estimated size of the world economy at that time of just over $30 trillion, does not include the embezzlement or theft of public funds. Many economists believe that it stems from the unethical practices of business organisations. As Forbes magazine noted, in industrialised nations, undue influence is often exercised by powerful private interests, which in turn influences the nation’s regulations, policies and laws8 . Corruption levels in a country are definitely detrimental to a country's developmental processes.

High corruption levels affect the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) adversely and put a country’s industrial development at stake. Corruption increases the time a company should spend with bureaucracy and increases the cost of transaction, which in turn induces companies to involve in corruption. Perhaps, that is the reason why, most of the industries across the world that involve public investment have high levels of corruption. Most of the industries around the world are corrupted with the intensity varying with respect to the nature of the industry. As denotes, in public works contracts and construction industry, the bribery of public officials is highest and in fisheries industry, it is the least.

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5]Noer Michael, et al, “Corruption”, http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/corruption-economics-bribes-bizcorruption09_cx_mn_avb_de_0122corrupt_land.html, January 2009
6]Pei Minxin, “Government by Corruption”, http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/corruption-government-dictatorship-bizcorruption09-cx_mp_0122pei.html, January 22nd 2009
7]"Six Questions on the Cost of Corruption with World Bank Institute Global Governance Director Daniel Kaufmann", http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20190295~menuPK:34457~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
8]Kaufmann Daniel, “Corruption and the Global Financial Crisis”, http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/27/corruption-financialcrisis-business-corruption09_0127corruption.html, January 27th 2009