Cracking the Myth of Petty Bribery

Notes internacionals CIDOB, núm. 51

- Calling corruption in public service delivery “petty” minimizes its devastating effects and the high damage it has on the development of societies. Therefore, the term “petty bribery” needs to be banned from the anti-corruption vocabulary.

- Global indices help to rank countries and are of fundamental importance to raise awareness on corruption, however, very rarely do they result in concrete political change on the ground.

- Households with the minimum income in Mexico spent 33% of their monthly income on corruption, a percentage that by no means can be considered “petty”.

- Local indices show that corruption is increasing in strategic sectors for human development, such as in hospitals and schools.

- Local corruption measures are more precisely tailored to national conditions and can assist policymakers in developing concrete actions to decrease the levels of corruption in public service delivery.

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