SUPPLEMENT B

Scandals and Corruption

Is it possible that scandal is somehow an essential ingredient in capitalism? That a healthy free-market economy must tempt a certain number of people to behave corruptly, and that a certain number of these will do so? That the crooks are not a sign that something is rotten but that something is working more or less as it was meant to work?

—Michael Lewis

Corruption is dishonest behavior in search of wealth or power and found in virtually all places and time periods since the start of civilization. Corrupt acts are unethical and improper, but not necessarily illegal. Scandals are well-known incidents that involve some combination of moral outrage, wrongdoing, and disgrace. From the beginning bribery and smuggling ...

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