[lbo-talk] Mises Institute defends bribery

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Aug 8 09:43:24 PDT 2005



> In Defense of Bribery
>
> by Pierre Lemieux
>
> <http://www.mises.org/story/1884>
> [Posted on Monday, August 08, 2005]

1,700 words to say that the difference between price and bribe is mainly semantic. Not a very efficient way of arguing, especially for a neo-classical hack.

But besides this, he is basically correct. My only bone contention is that he misreads the connection between trust and bribery - in societies where bribery is widely spread and expected - it build public trust rather than depletes it (as he is incorrectly arguing). This is the key function of any system of gift exchange - basically Sociology 101.

Wojtek



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