November 3, 2011, 16:12 by The Economist online

Corruption in the public and private sectors go together

BRIBERY involves two parties, not one. Lambasting officials in poor countries for their sticky fingers is easier (and less open to legal challenge) than investigating the outsiders who suborn them. On November 2nd Transparency International (TI), a Berlin-based campaigning group, published its Bribe Payers Index. Based on questions to 3,000 businessmen, this ranks 28 countries (accounting for 80% of global trade and investment) by the perceived likelihood of their companies paying bribes when doing business abroad. Construction and industries involving government contracts, unsurprisingly, were the dirtiest. This index shows a different side of bribery from TI's Corruption Perceptions Index, which focuses on corruption in the public sector. Putting them together, there is a strong correlation between corruption in the public and private sectors.