9 REDUCING CORRUPTION
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3 Changing Services at the Grass Roots The most effective way to reduce corruption at the grass roots is not by local protests but by national policymakers using their formal powers to disrupt laws and institutions that give corrupt officials opportunities to use their public office for private gain. We set out below nine principles for reducing corruption. Given differences between services, some will apply to multiple services, and some services will be vulnerable to attack in more than one way. Repeal laws that facilitate the collection of bribes. The quantity and quality of laws and regulations affecting the delivery of public services are variable. The greater the number of steps that must be taken to deliver a benefit, the more officials are involved and the greater the opportunity for a single official or a group of corrupt officials to impose delays in giving a positive response to people seeking a service to which they are entitled. This sends the not so subtle signal to impatient claimants that if they want their claim acted upon they should pay a bribe for removing the delays that officials have created. This tactic is specially relevant in dealing with businesses that import perishable goods or builders for whom delays are costly because of the money they have tied up in land and equipment. It also affects people waiting for medical treatment for a painful condition. Reducing the number of regulations and official signatures required to deliver a service can be effective in reducing bribery, because people will not pay a bribe for a signature that is no longer needed. It also increases efficiency, for people do not need to spend hours queuing in a government office to get an official document. Repealing laws that define some forms of behaviour as illegal can reduce the opportunity for the police to collect bribes for not enforcing the law, for example, from sellers of soft drugs such as marijuana. As long as its sale is illegal, the police can collect bribes as an informal and illegal way of licensing drug vendors to operate in their jurisdiction. Increase the use of objective criteria for deciding eligibility for receiving a service. Each public service has criteria that are meant to determine under what circumstances a person is entitled or obligated to use it. The bureaucratic ideal of impartiality, treating people with the same needs the same, is best achieved when the criteria are objective.
