A link between measures of Gross National Product, and measures of corruption

This paper establishes a link between a countries economic performance as measured by Gross National Product (GNP) and a compound measure of Transparency, Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), and (TI 2002). CPI is a measurement that should provide an indication as to a countries reputation in the eyes of investors and traders for openess and information disclosure in government and non governmental organisations, in relation to corruption, bribery and extra non-justifiable payments. Corruption involes the behaviour of public officials either elected or appointed, by which they unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them. This is probably the case of the disparate performance of developing countries, where some are experiencing economic growth while others are falling behind. (Helman 2000). There has been comment in the press about the relationship between corrupt practices, and a countries economic performance. (Anon 2001), (Lobe 2001) and (Perlez 2002). This evidence is presented as a countries ability to attract trade and investment, which should be possible to measure by examining it's economic performance. This paper does not attempt to analyse the accuracy of this evidence, it instead shows an empirical link between measures of GNP and CPI, which along with the anecdotal evidence support the view that a countries economic performance is indeed tied to it's reputation for corruption and transparency.