Manufacturers - The Wisdom of Corruption

New research demonstrates that, while many manufacturers may be corrupt, they are smart to do so. A paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research concludes that companies "stand to gain $11 in market value for every $1 they spend on bribing government officials for contracts." The return on corruption is huge.

It is laughable whenever manufacturers or their minions, the trade magazines, defend themselves saying they could never do anything corrupt or surely they would be out of business already. The long litancy of fake awards, phony research and edu-marketing events is clear evidence to the contrary.

For these companies, it is obviously favorable economics, ethics be damned. Likewise, we recognize that publicizing manufacturer abuses makes the economics of their actions far less attractive. Plus, the honest manufacturers benefit. Ultimately, the transparency the Internet forces will eliminate the economic benefits of corruption.