Corruption index: even UN-haters must admit it's good for somethin

[Fragbait]

I say the theory is fundamentally flawed. Corruption doesn't directly correlate with unpaid parking tickets (it helps to keep a low profile when skimming heavier stuff).
If anything, the study reveals a rather interesting trend across cultures' strictures and notions of "face". Coming from The Economist, though, I'm not surprised at the misconception and gross generalization.

Hi,

the underlying study can be viewed here (219 kb pdf).
If you read it, you will notice that they don't claim that corruption "directly correlates" with unpaid parking violations, but that

The act of parking illegally fits well with a standard definition of corruption,
i.e., “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain,”2 suggesting that the comparison of parking violations
by diplomats from different societies serves as a plausible measure of the extent of corruption social
norms or a corruption “culture”.

I think while this study may not give us a direct correlation between corruption and diplomate parking violation (what would we do with such a correlation anyway? Teach our own diplomats not to commit parking violations, so that we look less corrupt to others?), what it does give us is a closer look at the morality of different countries and their diplomats respectively.

If the official representatives of a country choose to violate law because the authorities "can't prosecute us anyway, hehe." (<- exaggerated wording), this indeed is quite revealing. Of course for the study to be somewhat representative, not only the behaviour of embassadors in New York but in many other cities as well ought to be investigated.

Greetings, Fragbait