Table 6.1 Percentile rank of Bangladesh (2010

Table 6.1 Percentile rank of Bangladesh (2010)

CPI CCIa ICRG

25% 17% 42%

Source: Transparency International (2010); World Bank (2009); The PRS Group (2011). a The data for CCI is taken from 2009 as at the time that this paper was written this was the most recently available data.

from 91 out of 91 countries in 2001 to 134 out of 178 in 2010 as shown in Table 6.2 which suggests that as a country it is experiencing some improvement.

What Causes Corruption in Bangladesh?

Causes of corruption can differ from country to country. Rock and Bonnett (2004) found that some of these differences can be contributed to the varying sizes of countries. They argue that for a large market with a large amount of labor, foreign investors may be more willing to accept their way of business with the inclusion of corruption. Smaller countries, however, may not have as large an influence on investors, and will have greater pressure to conform to international standards with regards to corruption. They also found that high levels of corruption are positively correlated with the amount of time managers have to spend dealing with bureaucrats.

Corruption within a country can be caused by different things. Rentseeking behavior is one such example. The state has a responsibility to create policies that stimulate economic growth within a country. These policies depend on bureaucrats to transfer economic resources to private individuals who may obtain economic rent from these transfers. Bureaucrats are sometimes able to claim a part of this share in the form of bribes. Such rent-seeking behavior is likely to occur when a lack of government intervention leads to excess profits. Examples of this include trade restrictions, price controls and government-controlled provision of credit. Low-paid workers also have a greater incentive to accept bribes in order to survive.