Economics
Bloomberg View: Putin's Phony War on Corruption
Russia's campaign against graft is less than meets the eye
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President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on corruption is vital to Russia’s future. It’s also certain to fail unless he recognizes the shortcomings of his methods.
Corruption costs Russia about $300 billion a year, a full 16 percent of its GDP. And that measure doesn’t capture the distorted incentives and lost investment that are side effects. Russia placed last in Transparency International’s most recent Bribe Payers Index, which ranks countries according to their companies’ propensity to offer bribes.