Sex and Corruption

Regular readers will of course be familiar with the ChinaEconomicsBlog interest in the economics of corruption.

It is therefore legitimate to post the following headline from the perhaps not world renowned paper the "Malaysian Sun".

Sex a major factor in Chinese corruption cases

China’s state media has broadcast statistics for some of China’s recent high profile corruption cases.

Out of the 16 recent cases where high-ranking officials were sacked for corruption, fourteen of the offenders had illicit lovers.

Some of the most notorious recent scandals have involved sexual misconduct, like the former mayor of Shanghai who stole from pension funds partly to finance a string of mistresses.

The top prosecutor's office has opened its files, it says, to draw attention to the fight against corruption.

Some observers see the new moral mood as a sign that more official misdeeds will be exposed and punished, others believe it may be a political manoeuvre to manipulate certain officials out of office.

As one can clearly observe, there is not a lot of fact presented in this article and little evidence of in depth research. However, the title alone justifies a link from this blog.

We should perhaps provide some comment. The bottom line is that this headline is not really so surprising. Sex in all its guises is undoubtedly the motivation for a wide range of misdemeanors, corrupt practices included.

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