Corruption and fraud are ever present. Either as opportunities or as activities, and no good is served by pretending to be above the study of their ways. In financial cryptography, we develop systems that do end-to-end cryptographically protected transactions not because crypto is cool, but because it protects the transactions from inside theft. And it protects the insiders from themselves.
Here's a surprising and contrarian article by Theodore Dalrymple on corruption in Italy. The author argues that the corruption of the leviathan state is the one determining factor that propels Italians to a greater standard of living than their uncorrupted British cousins.
It's well argued and well worth considering (albeit long). Can you unravel the justification and deconstruct the cognitive dissonance to place its views in balance? Just exactly when is corruption a good thing? A challenge!
Posted by iang at October 7, 2004 06:51 AM | TrackBackTo explain complex cultural aspects that compose the collective aspects of a people and compare them to another people is difficult. The fact is England suffered more after the War and Italy had help while rebuilding. England is also somewhat Calvinistic in regards to material goods while Italy is not, so the government of each country might be serving a purpose but not one that governs domestic growth. People might wish that the superstructure of political subdivisions merely exist to deal with other political superstructures, but, for example, in the United States the Constitution grants the power to provide a national defense but "scope creep" has invaded the constitutional intent. The wish of the founders was clear--the national government should be limited. The Italians have achieved that by allowing a corrupt model to operate in a blind greedy manner, thereby avoiding interference with individual efforts for economic freedom. In England, the invasion of post-War socialism was adopted lock, stock, and barrel. The dream that a centralized government could achieve equal economic progress for all is a lie--one the English bought but the Italians did not. The lie that says the individuals are not in charge of their own destinies or need assistance and control from the state should be flushed down the municipal sewer system. Russians used to say of the Soviet Regime: we pretend to work; you pretend to pay us.
As long as you never believe the lie that government can make all things right you are going to be OK. The truth be known, the English might be tricky when it comes to hiding assets from economic review thus producing results that might be less than true. Italy's economic information could be questionable as well. In fact, the post-war European economic figures could all easily be questioned since socialists control the governments and approve the output. Basically the English might have become God-less socialists at a more rapid rate than the Italians. The lack of emperical values found in non-Catholic cultures may allow for a less productive society. So, considering that the Italians are culturally Catholic and the English are Calvinist, the reversal of economic conditions due to a war might drive the Calvinist into despair at the same time allowing Catholics to view the situation as a moment of test and struggle. The product of the Reformation is despair in a decaying materialistic God-less society. While the Catholic ethos is one of struggle against adversity, the Calvinist sees adversity as confirmation of their damnation.
Posted by: Jimbo at October 7, 2004 08:24 AM
When is reality a good thing?
The Italians have more debt, lower growth, higher unemployment and lower GDP per capita. (See below). So even by borrowing wildly against the future they still have less than the Brits.
Certainly the Italians have shown a superior ability to absorb aid, compared to the Brits.
Good arguments are only good when they are based, at least loosely, in fact. Someone could write a nice article about how Liberia is better off in economic terms than the US but the argument would not make it so.
and Jimbo - take a class, any class - religion economics political theory - you need them all.
Italy:
unemployment 8.6%
GDP per capita $26,700
public debt: 106% of GDP
GDP growth .4%
United Kingdom
unemployment 5%
GDP per capita $27,700
public debt: 51% of GDP
GDP growth 2.2%