Discuss Meeting Scott Lassar isn't always a pleasure. E very country has its army of bureaucrats. Seasons and the powers that be come and go, but the bureaucrats selflessly toil away implementing processes and policies for the good of the people. There is theory and there is reality. Every nation has stringent, formal rules against corruption, but in reality there exist a set of informal rules which supersede the formal ones.
Informal rules are largely in place, so that individuals can use public office for private gains.
Some of these actions are incited by greed and others by necessity. Rents, properties, industries up for grabs in a transition economy Bureaucrats take home low salaries and incentives are highly conspicuous by their absence. There often exist no procedures for performance appraisal, and the money earned by bribes is often a symbol of status and power. In regulated economies, it is often found that power rests in the hands of a few and the monopolies that exist in the corridors of power would make Bill Gates blush with shame. The greater the amount of discretion which is given to an agent,the more opportunities there will be for agents to read government rules in much the same way that Homer Simpson interprets the Bible and exchange illegal favors for even more illegal money.