ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses political corruption or the misuse of government power for personal gain, with an emphasis upon those abuses relevant to living and working in a corrupt society. The phrase, government for hire suggests that private-sector market economics is the mechanism behind which one receives government services that should be provided free, or for a nominal fee. Rose-Ackerman described the cause of public corruption as simply perceiving the potential benefits of corruption as exceeding the potential costs, an economics argument. Officials may be accused of corruption and forced from their positions for political reasons unrelated to corrupt activity. Law enforcement officials are paid on the lower end of civil servants salary range. Educational systems may also be corrupted as teachers receive low salaries. Institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, Organization on Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), UN, and Transparency International have been striving to improve transparency in governmental systems.
