TI has to be taken for what it is, which is to say a group that relies mostly on the World Bank, regional financial blocks such as the ADB and various countries Chambers of Commerce for their rankings which are done as self-reported surveys i.e. perceptions of corruption as opposed to hard data. To be fair, they are right in saying that it would be impossible to quantify something as hidden, subjective and complicated as corruption. It's a shame that TI owns 'corruption' to the degree that it does or for that matter, that any one group can publish a top 100 list that is then taken as irrefutable science. This is not to say the list is useless, far from it. It's just not the whole picture and probably has much too much influence.
I think of TI as answering a basic question: If I were an international businessman, which country would I most likely get ripped off in? I know that's reductive and they factor in more than that, but that does seem to weigh the most. It would be interesting to have a different corruption scale that gave more emphasis to things like, in which countries does a citizen have to bribe a doctor, policeman, teacher etc. to be treated well. Depending on your definition of 'bribe', there may be a very different ranking, as Juan alludes to in his top ten list.
Good point. Neither do we hear about Siamese democracy when referring to the Thai political crises.
TI has to be taken for what it is, which is to say a group that relies mostly on the World Bank, regional financial blocks such as the ADB and various countries Chambers of Commerce for their rankings which are done as self-reported surveys i.e. perceptions of corruption as opposed to hard data. To be fair, they are right in saying that it would be impossible to quantify something as hidden, subjective and complicated as corruption. It's a shame that TI owns 'corruption' to the degree that it does or for that matter, that any one group can publish a top 100 list that is then taken as irrefutable science. This is not to say the list is useless, far from it. It's just not the whole picture and probably has much too much influence.
I think of TI as answering a basic question: If I were an international businessman, which country would I most likely get ripped off in? I know that's reductive and they factor in more than that, but that does seem to weigh the most. It would be interesting to have a different corruption scale that gave more emphasis to things like, in which countries does a citizen have to bribe a doctor, policeman, teacher etc. to be treated well. Depending on your definition of 'bribe', there may be a very different ranking, as Juan alludes to in his top ten list.