'To Bless All Mankind' September 19, 2016 Issue

The payoff in not paying off an official

<i>The Monitor’s</i> Editorial Board

Originally published in The Christian Science Monitor, April 17, 2016.

For a company that sells high-quality products or services, paying a bribe overseas can still sometimes be very tempting. The fear of losing business to a corrupt competitor is strong—often stronger than the fear of being caught. The same temptation may be felt among athletes about doping or among students about cheating on a test.

In the United States, federal officials often feed into this corporate fear of losing out. American companies are being harmed by global corruption, says Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, who enforces anti-bribery laws. “The negative effects of foreign corruption inevitably flow back to the United States,” she says.

Yet fear need not be the driving force in US anti-corruption efforts. What if running a transparent and honest corporation in a corrupt environment is actually profitable?

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