Corruption has played a pivotal role in sustaining appallingly high levels of poverty in many developing countries, particularly in relation to the deficient provision of basic services such as education and health care. It is also a major reason why growth-rate increases in Africa and South Asia have failed to benefit large segments of the population. Corruption drives the overexploitation of natural resources, capturing their value for a small elite, whether timber from Indonesia or coltan from Congo. In the developed world, corrupt funding undermines political systems and lays policy open to heavy financial lobbying.
Human Sciences Research Council (Sat,) studied this question.