Causes of Corruption

The underlying reason that people get involved in corruption is that systems that don't work well and create bad incentives. More people would engage in corruption under the wrong circumstances, that is, if no one would find out and if they had few alternatives.
What causes corruption is, first, a clear opportunity, such as the envelope of cash sitting in the parking lot. This kind of opportunity in the government could be a government-run mining company with no competitors, or a long list of licenses and fees required for shipping goods into or out of the country.
Second, what causes corruption is little chance of getting caught. This lack of accountability comes primarily from a) a lack of transparency, for example, when public officials do not inform about or explain what they are doing, including a declaration of their wealth, houses, and cars; and b) weak enforcement, when law agencies do not impose sanctions on power holders who have violated their public duties. This is the case, for example, when judges are in the pay of the ruling party or there are too few police officers to enforce the law.
Third, what causes corruption is bad incentives, such as a clerk not earning enough to live on or not being sure that he will have a job tomorrow so people do not have an incentive to perform their official duties, but actually pay for their jobs with the understanding they will make money through bribes.
Fourth, what causes corruption is attitudes or circumstances that make average people disregard the law. People may try to get around laws of a government they consider illegitimate (for example, not paying taxes to the apartheid government in South Africa). Poverty or scarcity of goods (such as medicine) may also push people to live outside the law.
So, corruption is not just about ethics. It's also about how the government is set up and managed. That is why improving the way government works is so important that he supplements his income with bribes. In extreme cases, people do not have an incentive to perform their official duties, but actually pay for their jobs with the understanding they will make money through bribes.
Fourth, what causes corruption is attitudes or circumstances that make average people disregard the law. People may try to get around laws of a government they consider illegitimate (for example, not paying taxes to the apartheid government in South Africa). Poverty or scarcity of goods (such as medicine) may also push people to live outside the law.
So, corruption is not just about ethics. It's also about how the government is set up and managed. That is why improving the way government works is very important.