Critical Thinking and Ethics Essay Example for Free

Critical Thinking and Ethics Essay In a discussion of ethics, critical thinking may not be the first term that comes to mind, unless opposing. However in some ways, critical thinking can the foundation, from which an ethical decision is made. This paper will explain the relationship between critical thinking and ethics, how the principles and rules of critical thinking are applicable to ethical reasoning, and if ethical decisions would be necessary if everyone followed the rules of logic. Is Critical Thinking Applicable to Ethical Reasoning? Ethical reasoning is based on the principles of what is considered right and wrong. Critical thinking on the other hand, warrants more of a thought process, causing one to analyze the situation from all aspects before reaching a conclusion. â€Å"By taking the path of a critical thinker, a person develops a mental process of evaluation which helps to determine their ethical standards† (Mnmelillo, 2010, Professional Growth, para. 1). Logic versus Ethical Reasoning The purpose of logic is to find that which is true. Logical thinking processes are often times used in ethics to answer important moral questions. However logic does not guarantee a morally correct outcome. For example, the legalization of marijuana is constantly under debate. Using the rules of logic, one would be able to see both the pros and cons of this argument. Although drug use is considered unethical by US government standards, even for medicinal use, the state of California, has legalized medicinal marijuana. In this particular case or should I say state, the rules of logic did not produce a morally correct result. Conclusion Ethical reasoning and critical thinking are derived from different  processes, although there are circumstances in which one is necessary to reach a decision regarding the other. As with critical thinking, there are no hard rules determining the use of ethics, considering what may be unethical in some cultures, for example, may prove to be ethical in another. Ultimately the use of ethics versus critical thinking or logic is determined by the situation at hand. Reference: Mnmelillo, N. (2010). What is the relationship between critical thinking and ethics? Triad Search Marketing: Professional Growth. Retrieved from http://www.triadsearchmarketing.com/what-is-the-relationship-between-critical-thinking-and-ethics/

The Principle Role of Financial Intermediaries Essay Example for Free

The Principle Role of Financial Intermediaries Essay There are evidences that â€Å"financial intermediaries play a key role in improving the performance of the economy†. (Morawski 4) Not to mention that they â€Å"could even act as a good predictor of long run rates of economic growth, capital accumulation and productivity improvement† (King and Levine cited in Chakraborty 1). However, what –exactly- is the principle role of financial intermediaries? This is what this essay tries to answer. This essay aims at discussing the principle role of financial intermediaries (banks, investment companies, financial advisors or brokers, credit unions, mutual funds, and insurance companies). The best approach to achieve this goal is to search the literature to study what is written concerning financial intermediaries’ different roles and assess these roles to come up with the principle role of these institutions. However, first of all, it was necessary to study different definitions for financial intermediaries in case these definitions could give an idea about the principle role of them. For example, -according to Claus et al. financial intermediaries â€Å"‘channel funds’ from those who have savings to those who have more ‘productive’ uses for them† (2). Also, Jalan defined financial intermediaries as â€Å"institutions which ‘transfer funds’ from economic agent with surplus funds (surplus units) to economic agents (deficit units) that would like to utilize those funds. Then, Morawski provided a better definition to ‘Financial intermediaries’ term as institutions which provide â€Å"‘channeling’ or efficiently ‘transfer funds’ between lenders (surplus units) and (deficit units) borrowers that are brought together in order to achieve higher production and efficiency for the economy as a whole. † or in another word, as she mentioned institutions which â€Å"pool ‘resources’ from various small investors so that they can be able to later lend those ‘funds’† (2, 3) Then, it was clear that these definitions actually give the financial intermediaries’ principle role. However, to be sure that the principle role is what mentioned in definitions of the term, it was logical to move to other research findings that discussed basic or vital roles of financial intermediaries. Corrigan mentioned that the vital and indispensible role of financial intermediaries is in â€Å"helping societies ‘economies’ achieve a broad range of public policy goals, including, but not limited to- ‘mobilizing’ and ‘allocating savings’ in an effective and efficient manner† (10) According to Chakraborty, financial intermediaries â€Å"perform the roles of (a) resource mobilization and allocation, (b) risk diversification and (c) liquidity management to foster development of the real sector† (1) and that’s exactly what Morawski assure â€Å"The low transaction costs allow those institutions to offer liquidity services as it is simpler to sell financial instruments to raise cash and in the same time reduce the exposure to potential risks by sharing risks among various investors† (3) Diamond and Dybvig summarized these roles when they showed that financial intermediaries â€Å"can enhance risk sharing, which can be a precondition of liquidity, and can thus improve welfare† (cited in Claus et al. 2). And through these two financial services –provision of liquidity and risk sharing- they â€Å"reduce the costs of ‘moving funds’ and help in overcoming information asymmetry between borrowers and lenders, leading to more ‘efficient allocation of resources’ and faster economic growth† (Claus et al. , 2) Claus et al. mentioned two channels through which financial intermediaries â€Å"can have an effect on economic growth, capital accumulation and technological innovation†. (7-8) While â€Å"this ‘supply of funds’ provided by financial intermediaries –according to Goldsmith- through loans or through the purchase of securities is an essential if not the primary economic function of financial interm ediaries† (180) Finally, based on these definitions and research findings, the principle role of financial intermediaries is in achieving the efficiency and effectiveness in supplying funds to the market by mobilizing and allocating resources or funds -with (a) low transactions costs and (b) overcoming information asymmetry- between borrowers (surplus units) and lenders (deficit units) -through two main services, the (1) provision of liquidity and (2) risk sharing-; and as a result to this better utilization of these funds (more investments and higher production- leads to economic growth or welfare (through (1) capital accumulation, (2) improved or enhanced productivity, and (3) technological innovation).

Amos Is Identified As The Prophet Amos Religion Essay

Amos Is Identified As The Prophet Amos Religion Essay Introduction: The author of the Book of Amos is identified as the prophet Amos. Amos was the first prophet in the Bible whose message was recorded at length. Although he came from a town in Judah, he preached to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, about the middle of the eighth century B.C. The Book was likely written between 760 and 753 B.C. As a shepherd and a fruit picker from the Judean village of Tekoa, he was called by God, even though he lacks an education or a priestly background. His mission is directed to his neighbour to the north, Israel. It was a time of great prosperity, notable religious piety, and apparent security. But Amos saw that prosperity was limited to the wealthy, and that it fed on injustice and on oppression of the poor. Amos ministry takes place while Jeroboam II reign over Israel, and Uzziah reigns over Judah. Amos can see beneath Israels external prosperity and power; internally the nation is corrupt to the core. In short, they had forgotten what it meant to follow God. Amos took his uncompromising message straight to the religious authorities of his day, instead of listening to him, they threw him out. In the same way that Amos challenged the Israelites to reconsider their priorities, he challenges us in the climax to his book, and reminds us of what God wants (Amos 5:24). In this essay, I wish to write an introduction on the Book of Amos. Background and Meaning of Amos: The Book of Amos is set in a time when the people of Israel have reached a low point in their devotion to God. The people have become greedy and have stopped following and adhering to their values. The people in Amos time expected the day of the Lord to be a picnic; but Amos pointed a different picture of inescapable terror. Scholars have understood Amos image of Yahweh passing through the midst of the people of Israel as an allusion; to his passing through Egypt. They make reference in this regard to (Exodus 12:12). For I will pass through the midst of you; says Yahweh. According to Amos, Israel is guilty of injustice toward the innocent, poor and young women. As punishment Yahwehs vengeance would be directed against Israel, and the prophet warns his audience; Is not the day of the Lord darkness in it'(Amos 5:20). The day of the Lord was widely celebrated and highly anticipated by the followers of God. Amos came to tell the people that the day of the Lord was coming soon and that it meant divine judgement and justice for their iniquities. Structure and Theme: The nine chapters of the Book of Amos emphasize one central theme. The people o the nation of Israel has broken their covenant with God, and his judgement against their sin will be severe. In the first major section of the book, Amos begins with biting words of judgement against the six nations surrounding the lands of Judah and Israel. These nations are Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab. Next he announces Gods judgement against Judah, Israels sister nation to the South; and because of Israels bitterness toward Judah; Amos listener must have greeted this cry of doom with pleasant agreement. Further, the second major section of the book of Amos is the prophets three biting sermons of judgement against the nation of Israel (3:1 6:14). He referred to the wealthy, luxury-seeking women of Samaria the capital city of Israel as cows of Bashan (Amos 4:1). He also attacked the system of idol worship which king Jeroboam II had established in the cities of Bethel and Gilgal (Amos 4:4, 5:5). The situation clearly called for a courageous prophet who could call the nation back to authentic faith, as well as a policy of fairness and justice in their dealings with their fellow citizens. In the third major section, the prophet Amos presents five visions of Gods approaching judgement. The prophets vision of a basket of fruit is particularly graphic. Amos described the nation of Israel as a basket of summer fruit, implying that it would soon spoil and rut in the blistering sun of Gods judgement (8:1 14). Amos unquestioning obedience and his clear proclamation of Gods message show that he was committed to the Lord, and His principles of holiness and righteousness comes through clearly in the book. Amos made it plain that Israel would be judged severely unless the people turned from their sin and looked to the one true God for strength and guidance. The Book of Amos ends on a positive, optimistic note. Amos predicted that the people of Israel would be restored to their special place in Gods service after their season of judgement had come to an end (Amos 9:11-15). This note of hope is characteristic of the Hebrew prophets; they pointed to a glorious future for Gods people, even in the midst of dark times. Evaluation: The Book of Amos is one of the most eloquent cries for justice and righteousness to be found in the Bible. It came through a humble shepherd who dared to deliver Gods message to the wealthy and influential people of his day. Amos lived up to his name as he declared Gods message of judgement in dramatic fashion to a sinful and disobedient people. Amos message is just as timely for our world, since God still places a higher value on justice and righteousness. Amos spoke because the Lord had called him to deliver His message of judgement. This is one of the clearest statement of compulsion of the divine call to be found in the Bible. Conclusion: Amos is known as the great prophet of righteousness of the Old Testament. His book underlines the principle that religion demands righteous behaviour. True religion is not a matter of observing feast days, offering burnt offerings, and worshipping at sanctuary, but authentic worship results in changed behaviour, seeking Gods will, treating others with justice and following Gods command. A positive spirit, which issued from Amos deep faith in God sustained the prophet and gave him hope for the future. This great insight is summarized by these words from the prophet. Let justice run like water and righteousness like a mighty stream (5:24). Although Amos was a shepherd by occupation, his book gives evidence of careful literary craftsmanship. The technique which the prophet used was puns or plays on words to drive home his message. For example when the prophet talks about the summer fruit suggest the end of the kingdom of Israel; like ripe summer fruit, Israel was ripe for Gods judgement.

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Kierkegaards View on Faith Essay -- Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Kierkegaards View on Faith Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher in the mid 1800s. He is known to be the father of existentialism and was at least 70 years ahead of his time. Kierkegaard set out to attack Kant’s rational ethics and make attacks on the Christianity of our day. He poses the question, how do we understand faith? He states that faith equals the absurd. In â€Å"Fear and Trembling†, he uses the story of Abraham and his son Isaac to show an example of faith as the absurd. The story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac signifies a break in the theory that ethics and religion go hand in hand. He shows how the ethical and the religious can be completely different. â€Å"I by no means conclude that faith is something inferior but rather that it is the highest, also that it is dishonest of philosophy to give something else in its place and to disparage faith† (Fear and Trembling, 12).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To Kierkegaard, the whole biblical story is a paradox. â€Å"Thinking about Abraham is another matter, however; then I am shattered. I am constantly aware of the prodigious paradox that is the content of Abraham’s life, I am constantly repelled, and, despite all its passion, my thought cannot penetrate it, cannot get ahead by a hairsbreadth† (Fear and Trembling, 12). Faith to Kierkegaard is even paradoxical. â€Å"Precisely because resignation is antecedent, faith is no esthetic emotion but something far higher; it is not the spontaneous inclination of the heart but the paradox of existence† (Fear and Trembling, 19). Under the ethical, Abraham was going to commit murder. Kierkegaard uses an example of a preacher going to him after the murder and screaming, â€Å"You despicable man, you scum of society, what devil has so possessed you that you want to murder your son† (Fear and Trembling, 10). He knows that murder cannot be ethically dis closed and wonders how that can be faith. Under the absurdity of faith, Abraham’s crime of murder becomes a merited duty to his Creator. â€Å"The ethical expression for what Abraham did is that he meant to murder Isaac; the religious expression is that he meant to sacrifice Isaac† (Fear and Trembling, 11). Abraham had to suspend his duty to the universal, or the ethical in order to carry out his duty to God. The Christian must make an existential leap out of the universal to acquire faith. This ultimately means that faith is higher than the un... ...f Pure Reason, 616). Kant places religion within the rational realm. He starts with the rational individual which is living in an absolute moral society. The moral law is based upon religion. â€Å"...and I maintain, consequently, that unless moral laws are laid at the basis or used as a guide, there can be no theology of reason at all† (Critique of Pure Reason, 613). To Kant, a society’s commitment to absolute morality, moral law, and the church was the rational world’s meaning for religion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kierkegaard argued against Kant that rationalism was lacking where religion was concerned. Kierkegaard fought that religion had nothing to do with rationalism, but everything to do with an individual relationship with God. The individual is free to maintain an intimate relationship with God which comes with faith as the absurd. Unlike Kant, Kierkegaard sees moral rationalism in society, but religion has nothing to do with it. It is a completely different subject that cannot be mixed with moral reason. He states that religion belongs only to the person seeking religion and overpowers all things rational. Kierkegaard places religious philosophy beyond the context of rationalism completely.

Swine Meat and Diseases Essay -- Agriculture Farming Food Pigs Essays

Swine Meat and Diseases Many swine disease outbreaks occur every year and are most often related to a large number of pigs raised in the same area or facility continuously. Raising and producing a numerous amount of pigs can result in overcrowding which can then result in pigs who are disease carriers. These disease carriers can continue to infect and re-infect a swine producer’s herd. Without knowing or realizing that the hogs are infected the diseases can travel from swine farm to swine farm introducing new diseases into their swine herds which can produce more carriers. African Swine Fever: One of the most destructive diseases in swine known worldwide is the African Swine Fever, or ASF. ASF is a viral disease which affects both wild pigs and domestic pigs. The disease is often contracted when pigs consume uncooked food scraps and contaminated garbage or water. There are many symptoms of African Swine Fever, some of which include reddening of the ears and snout, bloody diarrhea, high fever, skin blotching and abortion frequently occurs in pregnant sows. Fatality is a very common outcome from contracting ASF. If death does not occur, the surviving pigs can carry the virus for months on end. There is absolutely no treatment or vaccine that exists for a cure of this disease. The main prevention method for the African Swine Fever virus is to be sure that all garbage fed to pigs is thoroughly cooked. ASF is a disease that can be very contagious if it is not controlled. Those pigs that become infected should be eradicated by slaughter and disposing of the carcass by burning or burial. One positive aspect of African Swine Fever is that humans have yet to transmit it. Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome: .. ...ne disease outbreaks, a disease can be detected at an earlier stage making the outbreak less devastating. References Amass, F. Sandra (2004) Procedures for preventing transmission of foot-and-mouth disease virus by people. The Veterinary Journal, 103, 143-149 Chae, C. (2005) A review of porcine circovirus 2-assoiciated syndromes and diseases. The Veterinary Journal, 169, 326-336. Hulten, F. (2004) Evaluation of environmental and management-related risk factors associated with chronic mastitis in sows. AJVR, 65, 1398-1403. Walker, Randy (1992) Swine: Swine Health Program. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/AA/AA080500.pdf Olega-Perez, A. (1990) Distribution and biology of Ornithodoros erraticus in parts of Spain affected by African swine fever. The Veterinary Record, 126, 32-37.

Effects of corruption Essay

1. Introduction in philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement. Government, or ‘political’, corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption has been a major problem in our country Kenya, affecting individuals all over the country. Most problems facing the country can be associated with corruption, starting with unemployment; which has seen the rate of jobless Kenyans go up each and every year, tribal wars which saw the country almost to flames in the year 2007, crimes, which are as a result of the increased rate of unemployment, national debts e.g. the Anglo-leasing which has seen the government spend billions trying to repay the debt. 2. Objectives The study has two objectives; First, it aims to review the essential elements of the various approaches that have been used to analyse the causes and effects of corruption. Second, it aims to explore how research has been applied in developing countries. This is a question of what policy recommendations have been made, and what might be learned from the anti-corruption campaigns and policies applied in specific countries. 3. Research questions 1. To what extent has corruption penetrated into our society today 2. How has  corruption affected our way of lives today 3. Which population (the youth or the old) are mostly affected by corruption 4. Which characters in our society influence corruption 5. What is the major contributor to high levels of corruption in Kenya today 6. What role can the government play to bring an end or reduction to corruption 7. How can Kenyans ensure that corruption is eradicated from our system 8. What are the benefits of living in a corruption-free country 4. /Literature review Corruption has recently become a major issue in foreign aid policies. However, behind the screens it has always been there, referred to as the â€Å"c-word†. The major concern for international aid policy through the last five decades is to improve the living conditions for the poor in the poorest countries of the world. This endeavour requires a close co-operation with the national governments in poor countries. Generally speaking, however, the governments in poor countries are also the most corrupt. This is one of the few clear empirical results of recent research on corruption. The level of GDP per capita holds most of the explanatory power of the various corruption indicators. Consequently, if donors want to minimise the risk of foreign aid being contaminated by corruption, the poorest countries should be avoided. This would, however, make aid policy rather pointless. This is the basic dilemma corruption raises for aid policy. Unlike international business most development aid organisations and international finance institutions have the lion’s share of their activities located in highly corrupt countries. The international community in general and some donor countries in particular are, however, increasingly willing to fight corruption. Within the â€Å"good governance† strategies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund initiatives to curb corruption are given priority. OECD and the UNDP have also developed particular anti-corruption programmes to assist governments in tackling the problem. Furthermore, several bilateral development agencies have placed anti-corruption efforts high on their development agenda. Whether this is a desirable change in focus of aid policy, and, hence, whether it is possible to find workable policy instruments to fight corruption, remains to be explored. Corruption is a problem that mainly arises in the interaction between government and the  market economy where the government itself must be considered endogenous. Therefore it is complex to handle from a theoretical point of view. This difficulty is underlined by the fact that data are difficult to gather, and, if available, data are often â€Å"soft†, unreliable and masked. Moreover, from an aid organisation’s point of view the issue of anti-corruption may become diplomatically delicate since at least some of the 7 stakeholders who are handling the aid instruments in the partner countries, are likely to be part of the problem. 5. Research methodology The methods employed were the use of observation questionnaire and interview. Observation involved watching and listening to what people are doing in groups and also what they are watching when in cyber cafes or at home using televisions and also observing what the reaction is when the topic of corruption is introduced. The questionnaire involved a series of questions directed to parents or guardians and another directed to youths and children. They were aimed at finding out how parents and youth view the aspect of corruption The parents or guardians questionnaire consisted of sections which were; Closed ended questions (which required a YES or NO answer) Open ended questions (respondent free to answer in his/her own words) The youths and children’s questionnaire consisted of Closed ended questions (which required a YES or NO answer) The other method used was interviewing where there was a one on one with the respondent and the questions to be asked would revolve the topic of corruption that is the accessibility moral social and health effects. 6. Data collection Ideally the data applied in research on corruption should be based on direct and first-hand observations of corrupt transactions made by unbiased observers who are familiar with the rules and routines in the sector under scrutiny. More aggregate numbers should then be constructed on the basis of such observations. This kind of empirical studies hardly exist, however, and for obvious reasons we cannot expect many more in the near future. Most of  the time we are dealing with complex transactions taking place in large hierarchies to which independent researchers normally have no access, nor the appropriate social networks for picking up and checking data. The information is indirect and, until recently, rather unsystematic. One of the major difficulties in corruption research has consequently been the lack of a solid empirical basis. The observational basis of corruption research In countries with honest judiciaries, the most reliable information about corruption is court cases. Courts are spending huge resources on establishing which transactions have in fact taken place, and to judge whether they have actually been corrupt. The problem with court cases is that they are few, compared to the underlying number of corrupt acts, that they cannot be used neither as an indicator of sector occurrences nor of general frequency. For the same reasons court data are difficult to use for cross-country comparisons. They are likely to tell more about political priorities or the efficiency of judiciaries and police than about the underlying problem of corruption. Such data on corruption has nevertheless been collected on an international basis and some efforts have been made to make them comparable across countries, for instance by the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division of the United Nations Office in Vienna (United Nations 1999). However, the fact that Singapore and Hong Kong have exceptionally high conviction rates confirms the suspicion that data from courts cases on corruption, when aggregated, are telling more about judiciary efficiency than about corruption frequencies12. They do, nevertheless, bring interesting and often very detailed descriptions of the social mechanisms involved. In addition to the court cases, the police and other investigation units are producing considerable information about instances of corrupt transactions, also when the information may not be precise enough to win court cases or to fire employees. The quality of this information is highly variable, ranging from cases almost ready to bring to court, to mere rumours.13 In some cases this information may be sufficiently extensive to construct risk patterns for entire sectors, but in most cases it will be biased in the sense that active, strongly motivated police units will tend to exaggerate the number and the danger of the crooks they are  hunting. Investigative journalists are in many ways in a better position to collect data than social scientists. The public exposure of journalists gives them a larger supply of informants. They will often have to handle the data carefully, since good stories demand the naming of actors with the obvious possibility of harming innocent individuals. The risk of being sued necessitates caution. Like the police, journalists possess much surplus information that they cannot use. This means that stories from the media are important sources of information also for social science research on corruption when it comes to establishing facts14. Media are also important subjects of research on corruption, mainly for political scientists. Some forms of corruption may be considered as a kind of political scandals, and the political effects may often be quite similar to the publication of private misbehaviour of politicians or their families. Media are not only important in bringing forward facts about corruption, but also for forming public and scientific perceptions of corruption. Moreover, the media are to a large extent setting the stage for determining the likely political consequences of revealed corruption scandals. Like court decisions, media sources have their evident biases when comparing corrupt transactions across countries and across time. Firstly, the media will tend to give priority to the more spectacular stories, making the less dramatic but more common practices of corruption less attention. Secondly, and more important, the number of stories on corruption that are reaching the public are not likely to be determined only by how many stories that exist out there, but is also a question of press freedom, of the market for corruption stories, the journalistic professionalism and resources available, and various kinds of journalistic bandwagon effects. The bias created is likely to be serious also when it comes to empirical research because of the need to rely on second hand information. This makes it almost impossible to determine whether the perception of increasing corruption levels worldwide is based on facts or not, because the main sources used are likely to be strongly influenced by shifts in media attention and public opinion. As far as we know, unlike the case of criminal convictions for corruption, no international counting of media stories has been attempted. It is clear that the actual occurrences of discovered and provable corrupt acts discovered through courts, media and the few instances of participatory research are  too few in most countries to constitute a representative sample of the underlying corrupt transactions. To create patterns and analyses, researchers have to bring in information that is relatively unreliable, and then try to process it and make explicit the large and hardly determinable margins of err or in the field. Or alternatively, researchers can decide to let the uncertain and imprecise information about patterns pass, and consider it as not amenable to serious research. Until recently, the last strategy has been the dominant one, but since the mid-1990s a number of quantitative studies have been published based upon quite subjective and commercial indexes of aggregate country levels of corruption. The first and most influential one was Mauro (1995) who brought corruption into the renewed field of economic growth studies among economists. It was an econometric study of the effects of country corruption level on the growth rate, and the results indicated, as discussed in chapter 7.4, that there was indeed a significant negative impact. The study was based on data on general country corruption levels. What kind of data had Mauro been able to find? Corruption measured: The construction of corruption indicators Mauro (1995) used mainly data from a commercial organisation, Business International (BI), which in 1980 made an extensive survey of a large number of commercial and political risk factors, including corruption, for 52 countries, among these several developing countries. Business International had an international network of correspondents (journalists, country specialists, and international businesspeople) who were asked about whether and to what extent business transactions in the country in question involved corruption or questionable payments. The perceived degree of corruption involved in these transactions was ranked on a scale from 0 to 10. BI also made efforts to make the rankings across correspondents consistent. In fact, Business International was not the only organisation that tried to monitor where international businesses have to expect the most extensive or frequent bribe demands. Quite a number of both profit and non-profit organisations constructed similar indexes. Today it is Transparency International’s â€Å"Corruption Perception Index† (CPI) that is the most well known and most used both in research and in the public debate. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) The CPI is the most comprehensive quantitative indicator of cross-country corruption available, where each single country is recognisable. It is compiled by a team of researchers at Gà ¶ttingen University, headed by Johann Lambsdorff. The CPI assesses the degree to which public officials and politicians are believed to accept bribes, take illicit payment in public procurement, embezzle public funds, and commit similar offences. The index ranks countries on a scale from 10 to zero, according to the perceived level of corruption. A score of 10 represents a reputedly totally honest country, while a zero indicates that the country is perceived as completely corrupt15. The 1999 corruption perception index includes 99 countries. It is based on 17 different polls and surveys conducted by 10 independent organisations, not by TI itself16. None of these surveys are dealing with corruption only, but they cover a number of issues of relevance for development and business confidence. TI, however, is using only the data on corruption. Hence, the Transparency International index is not based upon information from the organisation’s own experts but is constructed as a weighted average of (for 1999) 17 different indexes from 10 different organisations. The majority of these indexes are based on fairly vague and general questions about the level or frequency of corruption perceived either by experts or business managers. About half are based upon expert opinions within built checks to ensure cross-country consistency. The other half is mainly based on questionnaires sent to middle and high-level management to either international or local firms. Only one organisation (i.e., International Working Group, developing the International Crime Victim Survey) asks the respondents directly about their own experience of corruption. Thus, the CPI is mainly a â€Å"poll of polls†, reflecting the impressions of business people and risk analysts who have been surveyed in a variety of ways17. According to TI, none of these sources combines a sufficiently large sampling frame with a convincing methodology to produce reliable comparative assessments. Hence, TI has opted for a composite index as the most statistically robust means of measuring perceptions of corruption. Each of the other surveys uses different sampling frames and varying methodologies. The definition of the concept corruption also varies between the surveys. Thus, we may question whether the surveys cover the  same phenomenon (see Lambdsorff, 1999b). Furthermore, all the surveys ask for the extent the phenomenon, although the meaning of â€Å"extent† is not obvious. Is it the frequency of corrupt transactions or the amount of bribes paid or money embezzled? 7. references Hamilton , Alexander (2013), Small is beautiful, at least in high-income democracies: the distribution of policy-making responsibility, electoral accountability, and incentives for rent extraction Morris, S.D. (1991), Corruption and Politics in Contemporary Mexico. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa Senior, I. (2006), Corruption – The World’s Big C., Institute of Economic Affairs, London â€Å"Glossary†. U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre. Retrieved 26 June 2011. Lorena Alcazar, Raul Andrade (2001). Diagnosis corruption. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-1-931003-11-7 Znoj, Heinzpeter (2009). â€Å"Deep Corruption in Indonesia: Discourses, Practices, Histories†. In Monique Nuijten, Gerhard Anders. Corruption and the secret of law: a legal anthropological perspective.