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Reducing corruption takes a specific kind of investment | Efosa Ojomo

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized Talk recommendations and more. Traditional thinking on corruption goes like this: if you put good laws in place and enforce them well, then economic development increases and corruption falls. In reality, we have the equation backwards, says innovation researcher Efosa Ojomo. In this…

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Traditional thinking on corruption goes like this: if you put good laws in place and enforce them well, then economic development increases and corruption falls. In reality, we have the equation backwards, says innovation researcher Efosa Ojomo. In this compelling talk, he offers new thinking on how we could potentially eliminate corruption worldwide by focusing on one thing: scarcity. “Societies don’t develop because they’ve reduced corruption,” he says. “They’re able to reduce corruption because they’ve developed.”

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31 Comments

  1. Q*bert

    October 28, 2019 at 11:16 pm

    This isn’t true because the US government is by far the most corrupt government to have ever existed on planet earth of all time. The US is founded on genocide and holocaust of Native American Indians. Metal of honors provided for slaughtering of innocent women and children. To this day, the mass holocaust that makes Hitler look like a school girl, still not taught in school. 500 years since 1492 and still corrupt so I don’t buy this bullshit. If your foundation is bloodshed then your government will forever be corrupt.

  2. NPC #52700000389

    October 29, 2019 at 12:03 am

    Good luck with distributing taxes into your economies. Everything will be distributed between the pockets of the same people. Punish them by publicly hanging. This is how it will end

  3. gudyk ogly

    October 29, 2019 at 12:14 am

    read it before, creating the market when there is none. The hardest thing was to have electricity and the road which leads to the most remote outposts of Africa, yet he found investors to build the roads and grid, respect him for celltell

  4. Eliza Grogan

    October 29, 2019 at 12:15 am

    Corruption in Nigeria has moved on. It’s still endemic but there is nothing which would entice me to invest there. Now Nigerians deal in stolen phones. There is not even one prosperous Country in sub Saharan Africa.

  5. Drake Johnson

    October 29, 2019 at 12:21 am

    I can see the connection that the speaker is making, that lack of economic prosperity leads to corruption, but he forgot the unique South Korean element: the chaebols. chaebols are 8 elite families that run corporations with a cozy relationship with the South Korean government and, at times, the South Korean military. Basically (I suggest you do your own research) the chaebols are companies in a free market economy but are playing with a different rule book that gives them an uncompetitive advantage. South Korean has the nick-name of The Republic of Samsung as 1/5 of the population works for that company. I don’t think South Korean is a model to hold up without mentioning the chaebols and the costs that come with it.

  6. Macaroon_Nuggets

    October 29, 2019 at 12:41 am

    Corruption is not some kind of petty crime, but rather a tool of power…” -CGP Grey 9:35

  7. Jay Bojorquez

    October 29, 2019 at 1:14 am

    Corruption comes with consequences. If the money to corruption ratio isn’t right, no one will do it. It’s not worth the discomfort. Thanks for something we’ve all known

  8. Dim Sum

    October 29, 2019 at 1:21 am

    Are sure you are not describing China or India?

  9. Darkhorseman82

    October 29, 2019 at 1:42 am

    Alternatively, we could just cure the Psychopathy and Narcissism that drive corruption. All we need is a genomic vaccine that replaces DRD4 with DRD 1-3-5-6-7.

    Corruption/Psychopathy are just evolutionary survival mechanisms for already corrupt societies, but the also embed and worsen corruption. Remove it, remove the cancer.

  10. Deb J

    October 29, 2019 at 1:46 am

    American government is morally corrupt.

    • Gil Chasin

      October 29, 2019 at 2:00 am

      Silly statement unless you want to point to specifics, eg, money in politics, &/or name names.

    • Jay Ar

      October 29, 2019 at 6:01 am

      @Gil Chasin Don’t confuse her like that

  11. Kiran Goud

    October 29, 2019 at 2:13 am

    This is very true, my father work in govt department. He used to take bribe just to meet our family daily needs. Then after many years he started real-estate business along with the work it paid off really well. Now he helps people in return never takes a single rupee

  12. b cole

    October 29, 2019 at 2:45 am

    Great points but Nigerian government have so much money from oil but it’s not reinvested in the country . In some country yes lack of money is the source of corruption but in some countries it’s lack of true leadership foreign interventions and weak law enforcement is the problem

    • Jason Ready

      October 29, 2019 at 12:38 pm

      I did find it funny that he characterized Nigeria as a poor country when it has the highest GDP of the entire continent

    • Andria Jobin

      October 29, 2019 at 4:31 pm

      Natural resource based economies are not developed economies (such as manufacturing or service industries).

  13. b cole

    October 29, 2019 at 2:49 am

    Death penalty for the corrupt is the only solution . But no cat would want to trap itself . So it will never pass as a law

    • Loktakpat Tonda

      October 29, 2019 at 4:00 am

      😀Then it is verry easy to assassinate a person..using that law 😄

  14. Cerbah Kamel

    October 29, 2019 at 7:22 am

    From Algeria I feel you 😢
    Algeria have a tremendous resource but still 50yrs behind 💔

  15. RonnieD1970

    October 29, 2019 at 8:20 am

    Excellent TED talk

  16. Vigilante Jake

    October 29, 2019 at 8:50 am

    Invest on killers to eradicate corrupt gov’t. Officials or death penalty !

  17. Umpa Lumpas

    October 29, 2019 at 11:08 am

    Amazing keep pushing forward

  18. ant stubbs

    October 29, 2019 at 11:08 am

    But the systems designed like that to keep people struggling.

  19. salsytube

    October 29, 2019 at 11:17 am

    India is very corrupt. You can’t do anything without bribery. Getting a politicians punished for corruption in India is nearly impossible.

  20. Mary Kinuthia

    October 29, 2019 at 11:31 am

    Corruption is born in the home. just saying!

  21. Jason Ready

    October 29, 2019 at 12:33 pm

    When I was in Ghana I asked a teenage boy, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’
    He responded instantly and enthusiastically
    “I wanna to be a politician!”
    I was very impressed and asked what do you want to do as a politician. He responded bluntly
    “That is how you get all the money”
    **Palm to face**

  22. Brian Lacy

    October 29, 2019 at 12:37 pm

    NO!! Material prosperity is NOT a solution. Only when the many people that have little demand govts that protect both the common good AND the ecology by rejecting private wealth inequity and extractive business practices, only then will earth, and its humans, achieve a sustainable, just and corruption free peace.

    • Andria Jobin

      October 29, 2019 at 4:56 pm

      Has making demands ever worked for the poor? Think about all the uprisings in history and what changes they actually achieved long term. Activist movements are inevitably spoiled with violence from inside and outside. It may change who rules but it doesn’t change the corruption and exploitation. Like he says, what has worked are individuals daring organize collectively to solve problems (i e. , enterprise).

  23. Cezar Wat

    October 29, 2019 at 2:36 pm

    GLOOMY Voice переведите это видео! Вот точно то что Оооочень актуально в России!

  24. Kajus Kajus

    October 29, 2019 at 3:52 pm

    Can you make animation the January 13 Lithuania

  25. Saikat Mondal

    October 29, 2019 at 4:07 pm

    Awesome stuff

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