Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Update)

Freakonomics Radio

In this episode we first published in 2021, the political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that different forms of government create different styles of corruption — and that the U.S. and China have more in common than we’d like to admit.

• SOURCES:
  • Yuen Yuen Ang, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "China’s Anti-Graft Show Is Educational, With Unintended Lessons," by Li Yuan (The New York Times, 2022).
  • China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption, by Yuen Yuen Ang (2020).
  • "A Fair Assessment of China’s IP Protection," by Shang-Jin Wei and Xinding Yu (Project Syndicate, 2019).
  • The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It, by Anat Admati (2013).
  • "A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis," by Deniz Igan, Prachi Mishra, and Thierry Tressel (2011).

• EXTRAS:
  • "China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers." by Freakonomics Radio (2025).
  • American Culture series by Freakonomics Radio (2021).

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.