The deadly side of corruption

A building destroyed by an earthquake in Indonesia. According to a recent study, Indonesia experiences greater corruption than other countries with similar income levels. Photo:Oxfam Indonesia

Quick – what’s the name of the architect who designed your house? How competent were your doctor’s professors in medical school? How trustworthy was the quality control inspector at the plant that manufactured that jar of mayonnaise you picked off the shelf?

Unless you have an unfathomable amount of time on your hands, I’m willing to bet you don’t know the answer to any of those questions, and you probably can’t think of any reason why you should. Fortunately for you, building plans, university faculty, and food production facilities all must meet a fairly standard set of criteria – criteria that ensure that products are safe to use and professionals are capable of performing their jobs. Those who live in societies where corruption is prevalent, however, are not so lucky.

Introduce bribery, graft, and other forms of corruption into the situation and the entire system of trust is fatally undermined. If a dishonest construction firm can bribe inspectors at a fraction of the cost of building a sturdy structure, the value of the inspector’s certification is vastly diminished. Even honest firms and inspectors are tarnished, as there is no way for the average citizen to know who is corrupt and who is not.

As a recent article in the journal Nature demonstrates, the effect of the deterioration of this system is not only expensive and inconvenient – it can be deadly. The authors studied the effects of earthquakes throughout the world, and found that “about 83% of all deaths from earthquakes in the past three decades have occurred in poor countries that are more corrupt than one might expect from their per capita income.” This is a tragic finding indeed – even in poor countries such as Haiti and Pakistan deaths from earthquakes are often preventable, if only builders could be trusted not to cut corners and officials could be relied on to ensure homes and businesses are built to code.

Of course, construction is not the only area in which corruption endangers lives. This previous CIPE Development Blog post details an incident in Russia in which suicide bombers were able to destroy two planes – killing 90 people – after paying only $30 in bribes. Even Americans are not immune – last year purchasing managers at several major food distributors pleaded guilty to taking bribes in exchange for allowing unsanitary products to reach grocery store shelves. Fortunately no one died in this case, but the public was certainly placed in danger and public confidence in food safety undermined.

As governments, businesses, and citizens’ groups throughout the world ponder whether to take action against corrupt practices, it is vital that they keep in mind that corruption is more than an annoyance or a harmless way to “grease the wheels.” By damaging or destroying patterns of trust, corruption deprives buyers of confidence that goods and services purchased from strangers are safe. It also propagates the belief that government is not an ally or servant of the public, but rather at the service of the highest bidder. At best, victims of corruption pay with higher prices; at worst, they pay with their lives.

Published Date: January 24, 2011