Is corruption a purely economic problem then?
It is only one of the problems really. Everything is much more complex. I can recommend you to read the statements about global economic problems at http://planetaryproject.com/global_problems/economic/ you will definitely be interested in it too.
Not at all. Corruption has many other serious damaging effects. Even if there was no economic effect at all, it would still be a critical problem. Corruption is sometimes defended as a way of “getting business done” by “circumventing bureaucratic red tape”. While this may be so in some cases, what it also means is that environmental protection and public health measures (to name but two) can also be readily avoided and frequently are. Thus in some parts of the world corruption and bribery are contributing to the rapid depletion of natural resources. In the Philippines for instance, the number of logging concessions have been comparatively few, about 480 during the past twenty years, but it is estimated that they have amassed US$ 42 billion in profits, due to very low concession fees and taxes. The system enriched a few families while the livelihood of millions of others has been adversely affected by the loss of forest cover and by the displacement of local communities not to mention t
