Graft As Symptom And Disease

A note from a reader who lived abroad for fifteen years said:

Interesting post about expat safety and a country’s ranking on the corruption perceptions index. I had never made that connection — nice catch! It makes sense, and is a great example of the link between seemingly victimless bribery and overall criminal activity.

And our reply:

Whenever we read country rankings about anything, we mentally run them through the cpi. It’s an old habit.

Sometimes (quite often, really) you see an apparent correlation. Admittedly, we tend to over simplify or ignore cause and effect arguments. That approach, we guess, is typical of someone looking at the world through a single lens.

But we agree with you. Corruption is never victimless and is somehow linked to overall criminal activity. Whether it’s a cause, a symptom, or both really doesn’t matter. What’s certain is that we’re all safer when there’s less graft.