CORRUPTION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Corruption, defined as the misuse of public power (office) for private benefit, is most likely to occur where public and private sectors meet. In other words, it occurs where public officiais have a direct responsibility for the provision of a public service or application of specific regulations

(Rose-Ackerman 1997: 31). Corruption tends to emerge when an organization or a public official has monopoly power over a good or service that generates rent, has the discretionary power to decide who will receive it, and is not accountable (Klitgaard 1988: 75).

Corruption's roots are grounded in a country's social and cultural history, political and economic development, bureaucratic traditions and policies. Tanzi (1998) argues that there are direct and indirect factors that promote corruption. Direct factors include regulations and authorizations, taxation, spending decisions, provision of goods and services at below market prices, and financing political parties. On the other hand, quality of bureaucracy, level of public sector wages, penalty systems, institutional controls, and transparency of rules, laws, and processes are the indirect factors that promote corruption.