While these relationships promoted long-term investment and growth, they also bred corruption. Yet there was no sudden increase in venality in the five years preceding the crisis. Nonetheless, globalization is adding new urgency to demands for curbing corruption. What was formerly business as usual is no longer tolerable. The spread of trade, investment and business around the world increases the probability that the effects of graft will resonate beyond national borders, undermining the earnings and efficiency of multinational companies.
Widespread corruption threatens the very basis of an open, multilateral, global economy.
Such an economy is based on standard international rules and the expectation that others will observe them. Corruption causes inefficiency and unfairness. It also undermines the rule of law. When conducted on a grand scale, as in Indonesia, graft can undermine the political legitimacy of the state. Improvements in education, rising living standards and the spread of information mean that the public in Asia is much less willing to tolerate corrupt practices by political leaders and economic elites.