Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Corruption: The Basic Story
- 2 Corruption and the Inequality Trap
- 3 Corruption, Inequality, and Trust: The Linkages Across Nations
- 4 Transition and the Road to the Inequality Trap
- 5 The Rocky Road to Transition: The Case of Romania
- 6 Half Empty or Almost Full?: Mass and Elite Perceptions of Corruption in Estonia, Slovakia, and Romania
- 7 The Easy and Hard Cases: Africa and Singapore and Hong Kong
- 8 Corruption Isn't Inevitable, But …
- 9 Conclusions
- Appendix
- References
- Index
1 - Corruption: The Basic Story
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Corruption: The Basic Story
- 2 Corruption and the Inequality Trap
- 3 Corruption, Inequality, and Trust: The Linkages Across Nations
- 4 Transition and the Road to the Inequality Trap
- 5 The Rocky Road to Transition: The Case of Romania
- 6 Half Empty or Almost Full?: Mass and Elite Perceptions of Corruption in Estonia, Slovakia, and Romania
- 7 The Easy and Hard Cases: Africa and Singapore and Hong Kong
- 8 Corruption Isn't Inevitable, But …
- 9 Conclusions
- Appendix
- References
- Index
Summary
They tell you that the best in life is mental –
Just to starve yourself and do a lot of reading
Up in some garret where the rats are breeding.
Should you survive it's purely accidental.
If that's your pleasure, go on live that way.
But since I've had it up to here I'm through.
There's not a dog from here to Timbuktu
Would care to live that life a single day.
Now once I used to think it would be worthy
To be a brave and sacrificing person.
I soon found out it wasn't reimbursin'
Decided to continue being earthy.
Where's the percentage? asks Mack the Knife.
The bulging pocket makes the easy life.
From “The Ballad of the Easy Life,” Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill, The Threepenny OperaWhen I was 13 years old, I delivered a plain white envelope containing a $50 bill to the chief of police of Paterson, New Jersey.
The chief wasn't available to accept the “gift” himself. I gave the unmarked envelope to a sergeant and told him it was from my father. He smiled and said thank you and waved me on my way.
A couple of hours later, a police officer called our stationery store with a very large order for office supplies. The department bought about 50 staplers, which more than sufficed for the 20 or so people who worked at police headquarters (so we knew what some of their children got for Christmas).
Information
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- Corruption, Inequality, and the Rule of LawThe Bulging Pocket Makes the Easy Life, pp. 1 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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