April 11, 2011 ☼ corruption ☼ economic freedom ☼ Economy ☼ governance ☼ politics ☼ Public Policy ☼ UPA government
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
In the light of the current debate over the solution to corruption, here’s something to think about. There is a correlation between higher levels of economic freedom and lower perceptions of corruption. Here’s an old chart that shows the relationship. It uses 2006 data, but it should hold with newer data as well (Update: Barbarindian has a chart with the latest data, LT @centerofright).
(Click on the chart to enlarge it.)
This chart shows a correlation. And correlation does not mean causation (OMIPP alert!). In other words, from these data alone, we cannot conclude that higher economic freedom causes lower corruption. We can, however, conclude that wherever there is greater economic freedom, perceptions of corruption are lower, and vice versa,
The question is: which variable should we focus on? There are enough rules, laws and agencies to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials. Clearly, there is overwhelming dissatisfaction over the efficacy of this method. There’s nothing to prove that one more super rule, super law and super agency will do the trick where so many others have failed. Indeed, it is likely to worsen the problem by adding to the red tape and logjam.
It therefore makes sense to shift focus to economic freedom. It’s worked to reduce corruption in India in some fields. You don’t have to bribe the telecom department officer and the line-man to get a phone connection anymore. That’s because there is relatively more economic freedom in the sector: from infrastructure to services, from retail to equipment, there are multiple providers. You have the freedom to choose, the freedom to switch and the freedom to reject phones, plans and providers.
But when the UPA government sought to curb economic freedom—by the blatant abuse of executive power—there was massive corruption.
Indeed, in sectors where there is relatively more economic freedom, corruption has generally been “kicked upstairs”, as this article in Pragati shows. In the 2G spectrum case, it was not prevented and punished in time by a man of well-known integrity. This should be an indictment of that man rather than the system.
Related Link: The 2011 Economic Freedom of the States of India shows how states that have greater economic freedom do better in a wide range of governance outcomes.
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