Feb 2, 2010

Valueless bribes


Three years ago an Indian NGO thought of a new tool to fight corruption: zero rupee bills."The idea was dreamt up by an Indian physics professor from the University of Maryland who, travelling back home, found himself harassed by endless extortion demands. He gave the notes to the importuning officials as a polite way of saying no..." There are now one million notes in circulation. Apparently, according to this article, it works. "Ordinary people are more willing to protest, since the notes have an organisation behind them and they do not feel on their own." Little things like this can sometimes make a difference. We don't always need to dream up impossible and useless government reforms!

1 comment:

Laura Z said...

i wonder how botswana with all its diamonds is such a island of non corruption in africa - and better than LATAM as well.

http://media.transparency.org/imaps/cpi2009/