Transparency International's Corruption Rankings

(Via Captain Capitalism)

In a note closely related to my ongoing series on the size of government as compared to levels of corruption, I came across this, which shows Transparency International's current corruption index. For the record, TI is pretty much the be all and end all of the global fight against political corruption. I don't know of anyone who disputes their independence, so you can pretty much take their analysis to the bank.

Anyways, if you look at the map, you will notice -with some exceptions- a definite, inverse, correlation between the amount of free market economics in a state and the amount of corruption in the state. More importantly, you will see a close relation between being free of corruption and having strong respect for private property rights. A great comparison exists between the basically economically libertarian Hong Kong (ranked 14th) and its mother state China (ranked 72nd). The case of South America really brings things into perspective as well, with the deep red of socialist Venezuela a far contrast from the 22nd best ranked Chile (the continent's most capitalism-oriented government).