Michael Perelman wrote: > > The IMF has been producing papers suggesting that corruption is a major problem in >the world > economy, keeping poor countries poor. Could be, though I would like to know the mechanisms by which this occurs. The solution, of course, is greater IMF control of these countries. I suspect that it is a symptom, although in some full > scale kleptocracies (Marcos, Mobutu .... ) I could be wrong. Corruption became rampant because of the lack of democracy and transparency such that the rulers could get away with anything including naked looting of the central bank. Corruption feeds on itself. The more corrupt a country becomes and the less the people can do about it,people will be more inclined to engage in corrupt practices. Could we classify Russia as a > less centralized kleptocracy in the sense that there seem to be a number of centers >of > corruption, although all are beholden to Yeltsin or the government powers? Maybe, though at his point clearly the government/capitalists/criminals are pretty much one and the same. In Russia, there seems to be a ruling class split between domestic, nationalist gangsters and more imperialist, internationally oriented gangsters. Sam Pawlett >
