August 18, 2004
The Etiquette of Bribery
Below, Amber asks:
What is the proper etiquette when one is asked for a bribe?
Alas, no Miss Manners column in LEXIS has revealed the answer-- I'm away from my books, but I don't recall information there either. I suspect that she would say that this is one of those (rare!) situations where the important question is not what is polite but what is practical.
I should think that if one had to it would be intelligent to treat this as any other slightly alien business transaction (some cultures have bribing rituals; it helps to know them, but not knowing them sometimes just increases the price). If one could afford to, one could instead use the all-purpose response to impropriety "Excuse me?" (or the fiercer, "How dare you?").
I would recommend the sadder but safer course to trainbound travellers in Eastern Europe.
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Pop Quiz
What is the proper etiquette when one is asked for a bribe? I lack the Lexis-Nexis access required to do a search of the Miss Manners archives, and I am not sure that she covered this issue anyway. All I remember is that paying baksheesh in foreign countries is no longer tax deductible for American corporations, but that's of limited use here.
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Games of Heat and Cold
Alex Tabarrok teaches his Economic Foundations of Law class:
[S]uppose that tenants value the hot water benefit at $100 and that it costs the landlord $150 to provide the hot water. At these prices the tenant does not buy the hot water. The law is passed; by how much does the rent increase?
Extra Credit: Suppose that the apartment is rented by K&G realty in Chicago. Suppose that the tenants value heat at $500, it would cost K&G $100 to provide it, and thus the lease reflects a contract to heat the apartment.
But Suppose further that when K&G does not heat the apartment it costs the tenants $10 worth of utility to complain, but $400 worth of utility to effectively complain and get results. What do the tenants do?
Answer: Buy a pair of cheap space heaters at Walgreens ($40) and move to England.
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