[ap-intact] COMMENTARY: There Is No “East Asian Paradox” of Corruption and Development

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"One encounters more-or-less sophisticated versions of the 'East Asian Paradox' argument all the time when talking about the adverse impact of corruption on development. When someone says something like, 'Corruption is a major threat to economic development,' someone almost invariably responds with something like, 'But what about China? It has achieved impressive economic growth despite widespread corruption.' As far as I’m concerned, this is equivalent to saying, 'But what about my Uncle Fred, the lifelong smoker who lived into his 80s?' But in case this is not completely obvious, let me explain why I think the 'East Asian Paradox' argument, at least in its usual crude form, is mostly bogus."

Read the post by Matthew Stephenson, in the Global Anticorruption Blog. http://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2015/03/10/there-is-no-east-asian-paradox-of-corruption-and-development/

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