Bribing our way to ethical goodness

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/allison-kilkenny/33183/bribing-our-way-to-ethical-goodness

Kari Smith has an interesting take on how we can prevent future Peter Orzags from jumping ship to go work at Citibank:

One thing the low pay of senior public officials allows for is a pump-and-jump. Even in the most noble of circumstances smart folks will notice that they can get to the front of the line pretty fast in the low competition public sector, build an impressive resume and then jump ship to the private sector to make a load of cash.

Less noble would involve actively selling the benefits of one's position to the highest bidder. What would stop people from doing this? The fear that they would be fired and thus loose out on a lucrative salary. However, with no lucrative salary there is little incentive not to do this.

That's partially true. Public servants make pennies in comparison to the private finance boys and girls' paychecks. However, another way to stop the bleeding is to regulate Washington's ridiculous revolving door practices that allow the Great Minds who destroyed the economy to go work for the government, and further deregulate their industries, and then vice-versa ("Pulling an Orzag").

It's all well and good to try and bribe people into being good, but then you also need to send them to jail when they dynamite the world's housing market.

More at the link ---