Bribe Payers Index
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About
The Briber Payers Index (BPI) is published by the civil society organisation Transparency International on basis of the Bribe Payers Survey conducted for this purpose. The BPI, created in 1999, ranks countries in terms of their companies’ propensity to pay bribes in emerging economies. The BPI covers 22 leading international and regional export countries and is regularly updated.
Information is given by country, region, sector and by type of foreign bribery. Three types of foreign bribery are proposed: (i) Bribery to high-ranking politicians, (ii) Bribery to low-level public officials to "speed things up", (iii) Use of personal and familiar relationships on public contracting. Furthermore, the senior business executives are asked about the effectiveness of the company's home country to fight against corruption.
Methodology
Based on senior business executives' answers to the the survey question "in the business sectors with which you are most familiar, please indicate how likely companies from the following countries are to pay or offer bribes to win or retain business in this country?", countries are ranked on a mean score. A perfect score is “10” indicating zero perceived propensity to pay bribes. The ranking starts with companies from countries that are seen to have a low propensity for foreign bribe paying.[1]
To construct the Index, the 5-point response scale used in the survey was reversed, converted into a 10-point scale system and then a simple average was calculated for each country. Assessments of a respondent’s own country were not included. The countries are then ranked based on the mean scores obtained for each country.[2]
Results
In the latest, the 2008 update, the BPI found that Belgian and Canadaian firms are seen as least likely to bribe abroad. These countries are closely followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland that are both ranked third on the index. At the other end of the spectrum, Russia ranked last, just below China, Mexico and India. [3]
The BPI also shows public works and construction companies to be the most corruption-prone when dealing with the public sector, and most likely to exert undue influence on the policies, decisions and practices of governments. Meanwhile, the banking and finance sector is seen to perform considerably worse in terms of state capture than in willingness to bribe public officials, meaning that its companies may exert considerable undue influence on regulators, a significant finding in light of the global financial crisis.The sectors where companies are seen as least likely to exert undue pressure on the public policy process are agriculture, fisheries and light manufacturing.[4]
The combined global exports of goods and services and outflows of foreign direct investment of the 22 countries covered by the 2008 update, 75 percent of the world total in 2006. The 2008 BPI is based on the responses of 2,742 senior business executives from companies in 26 developed and developing countries, which were chosen by the volume of their imports and inflows of foreign direct investment.[5]
No country receives a 9 or 10 in the 2008 BPI. This means that all of the world’s most influential economies were viewed, to some degree, as exporting corruption.[6] Views vary across regions, however, almost half of all business people polled in Latin American countries called government efforts to curb corruption ‘very ineffective’. Western European and US senior business executives were more likely to express a positive response, with about 3 in 10 deeming government efforts effective.[7]
While most of the world’s wealthiest countries already signed the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention banning bribery, there is little awareness of the convention among the senior business executives interviewed in the Bribe Payers Survey.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ Bandura, Romina (2008), “A Survey of Composite Indictes Measuring Country Performance: 2008 Updatae”, Office of Development Studies, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Available at: http://www.undp.org/developmentstudies/docs/indices_2008_bandura.pdf
- ↑ Transparency International (2008), "Briber Payers Index 2008", Full report.P.4 Available on: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/bpi
- ↑ Transparency International, "Emerging economic giants show high levels of corporate bribery overseas", Press Release, 9 December 2008, London, Berlin, access on 27 June 2011 on: http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2008/bpi_2008_en
- ↑ Transparency International, "Emerging economic giants show high levels of corporate bribery overseas", Press Release, 9 December 2008, London, Berlin, access on 27 June 2011 on: http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2008/bpi_2008_en
- ↑ Transparency International, "Emerging economic giants show high levels of corporate bribery overseas", Press Release, 9 December 2008, London, Berlin, access on 27 June 2011 on: http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2008/bpi_2008_en
- ↑ Transparency International (2008), "Briber Payers Index 2008", Full report.P.6. Available on: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/bpi
- ↑ Transparency International (2008), "Briber Payers Index 2008", Full report.P.14. Available on: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/bpi
- ↑ Transparency International, "Emerging economic giants show high levels of corporate bribery overseas", Press Release, 9 December 2008, London, Berlin, access on 27 June 2011 on: http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2008/bpi_2008_en
External links
