Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Corruption: The Basic Story
- 2 Corruption and the Inequality Trap
- 3 Corruption, Inequality, and Trust: The Linkages Across Nations
- 4 Transition and the Road to the Inequality Trap
- 5 The Rocky Road to Transition: The Case of Romania
- 6 Half Empty or Almost Full?: Mass and Elite Perceptions of Corruption in Estonia, Slovakia, and Romania
- 7 The Easy and Hard Cases: Africa and Singapore and Hong Kong
- 8 Corruption Isn't Inevitable, But …
- 9 Conclusions
- Appendix
- References
- Index
2 - Corruption and the Inequality Trap
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Corruption: The Basic Story
- 2 Corruption and the Inequality Trap
- 3 Corruption, Inequality, and Trust: The Linkages Across Nations
- 4 Transition and the Road to the Inequality Trap
- 5 The Rocky Road to Transition: The Case of Romania
- 6 Half Empty or Almost Full?: Mass and Elite Perceptions of Corruption in Estonia, Slovakia, and Romania
- 7 The Easy and Hard Cases: Africa and Singapore and Hong Kong
- 8 Corruption Isn't Inevitable, But …
- 9 Conclusions
- Appendix
- References
- Index
Summary
We pray to be more kindly than we are.
But sad to say the chances happen never.
You have to reach up high and man is low.
We'd all be glad to live in peace forever.
It seems that circumstance won't have it so …
Of course, I'm telling you the truth –
the world is mean and man uncouth….
To be aglow instead of low.
But you know circumstance won't have it so.
And nothing much will help a lot and you can toss it in the pot.
The world is mean and man uncouth.
And sad to say I tell the truth.
It always happens that way. It always happens that way.
And nothing much will help a lot and you can toss it in the pot.
From “Circumstance,” Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill, The Threepenny Opera“I think,” said Martin Lomasny, “that there's got to be in every ward somebody that any bloke can come to – no matter what's done – and get help. Help, you understand, none of your law and your justice, but help.”
So the Boston ward leader for the Democratic party told political reformer (or “muckraker”) Lincoln Steffens (1931, 618) in the 1920s. Lomasny's constituents were poor immigrants who often found themselves on the wrong side of the law. They had little faith in the legal system, which was clearly biased in favor of people with money who could hire high-priced lawyers. They had to feed their families.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Corruption, Inequality, and the Rule of LawThe Bulging Pocket Makes the Easy Life, pp. 23 - 57Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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