

Russia's Corruption Generates Equivalent Of 50% GDP - Ras_
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201008020916dowjonesdjonline000169&title=russias-corruption-generates-equivalent-of-50gdp-watchdog

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Ras_
More interesting details: [http://www.itar-
tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15369167&...](http://www.itar-
tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15369167&PageNum=0)

"The corruption situation is so dramatic that the report authors singled out
corruption-related losses of Russian economy. They estimated these losses at
about 50% expenses of Russian businesspeople. Some 80% of current assets in
the education system are shadowy, that is to say mainly related to the
corruption, and this figure reaches 90% in state and municipal services."

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barmstrong
Interesting story - but did anyone else find this headline non-sensical? How
can corruption _generate_ a percent of GDP?

I'm guessing they meant 50% of GDP is in black markets, or that 50% of
business expenses go to bribing people.

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profquail
One component of GDP is "personal consumption". In Russia, if a large number
of people are consuming black market goods, then the "actual" GDP is going to
be much higher than the government-reported GDP.

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profquail
Russia isn't the only country that has a large underground economy:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_economy#Comparison_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_economy#Comparison_with_regular_economy)

(The figures are a bit dated, but still interesting.)

