Corruption in one form or another has been around for millennia and can be found in all societies, albeit in varying degrees of severity. But what exactly is corruption and why is it bad? Well, the corruption we're going to talk about is generally illegal activity perpetrated by someone in authority in order to gain an illicit benefit. It can involve police officers, teachers, judges, other government officials, politicians and corporate officials. It's mainly bribery, but there can be different nuances to a bribe. It can be a small bribe affecting a small number of people, or it can be a bribe on a grand scale as part of systemic corruption of an entire community, country or region. Corruption goes by many different names, it can be called fraud, theft, graft, kickbacks and many other things. It can involve clientelism, which is a quid pro quo where goods or services are exchanged for some sort of political support. It can involve nepotism, where someone's relative is given a job or an advantage simply because they are family. Or it can involve cronyism, which is also giving a job or an advantage to a family member, or a friend, or a colleague, although usually, it involves a politician giving it to someone who's not particularly qualified, but it supported them in some manner. Whatever form corruption takes, it is always bad for the community, country and region where it occurs. Corruption has a direct impact on a country's economy, a direct impact on its political system and a direct impact on the quality of life of its citizens and the manner in which the country is perceived by others. If severe enough, rampant or endemic corruption can prevent an emerging market from becoming established or from developing and growing further. Politicians who take bribes are typically more interested in the amount of money that they get rather than the benefit available to the community at large. Corruption is also generally anti-competitive and will often thwart the growth of a community like an investment in infrastructure, development of a commercial market, residential and commercial real estate development and the development of a reliable legal system and law enforcement authority. Imagine for a minute that you're tasked with opening a new factory for your company. There are two groups of countries to choose from. Now, both groups offer the same benefits for your company and its employees, the wages are equally competitive, there's an abundance of available and affordable real estate, taxes are fairly reasonable and stable, necessary natural resources are readily available and the other factors you would consider are all the same. However, one group of countries is known for corruption. Meaning, they will likely ask you to pay some sort of fee or extra permit tax or I mean, let's call it what it is, they may ask you to pay a bribe in order to build or open the factory. So, that might mean that a minimum additional expenses. Listen, if you're asked to pay a bribe to build and then open a factory, you can bet that you'll be asked at some point to pay additional bribes to keep that factory open. Then, of course, there are the legal and compliance issues and reputational issues involved with potentially engaging in criminal activity. Clearly, you're going to invest and build that factory somewhere else. Those countries will then lose out on an investment that would have created revenue for the companies operating there, providing employment opportunities for its citizens, contributed tax revenues to be used to sustain, build and improve the infrastructure, and it will have put a dent in the development of public projects and those type of things. Corruption also creates an environment of distrust, where citizens may not have or may lose faith in their judicial and political system or faith in the infrastructure. So, again, imagine if you had to pay a bribe just to have the garbage picked up, or bribe a teacher to help your kids pass a test. Imagine if you knew that the only way to win your case in court was to bribe the judge. Imagine if politicians routinely took and even solicited bribes and if you cannot always trust members of law enforcement to uphold the law and protect the innocent. I suspect it would undermine your trust in the system and could lead or certainly contribute to apathy and despair.