It’s easy to reduce corruption - cut government
Polly Toynbee seems most upset:
With grimly apt timing, the annual Transparency International (TI) corruption perceptions index lands today. The news is not good. The world is growing more corrupt as it becomes less democratic. As for us, Britain is sliding downwards on the perceptions scale, seen at its lowest so far for probity.
Once ranked in the top 10, at eighth place in 2017, we are now in 20th position. The UK’s score for corruption in government and public office has worsened according to this year’s Economist Intelligence Unit expert assessment.
There is also the direct report on the matter:
The UK and US have sunk to new lows in a global index of corruption, amid a “worrying trend” of democratic institutions being eroded by political donations, cash for access and state targeting of campaigners and journalists.
No, we do not think this is a good thing. One of us worked for some years in that pit of iniquity that was post Soviet life and no, we do not hold that up as a desirable image of society. Better than Soviet life, yes, but not desirable upon corruption or rule of law grounds all the same.
But Polly’s error is to link this all to “less democratic”. For the same reason the report direct talks of “cash for access”. The more economic democracy we have then the more it is politics that determines who is allowed to do what. Access to that decision making process thus has a higher value, more cash is offered for it.
More simply, the more politicians decide the more valuable paying politicians is. Humans do more of things that are more valuable - economic democracy thus means more political corruption. The method of beating this is to make bribing - sorry, paying cash for access to - politicians not worth the game. Less politics in economic decision making that is.
No, come along now, this is obvious. If politics goes back to being what it should be, drains, collecting the bins and ensuring we can biff the Frenchies then why would anyone even dream of bribing a politician? So, if you’re against political bribery you should be a minarchist. Obviously so. Not that we expect Polly to grasp this but then Polly….
Tim Worstall