One of the central messages U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris took to Central America was controlling corruption was key to improving the region’s economies and reducing migration. “We must root out corruption wherever it exists,” Harris lectured government officials, including Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. U.S. special envoy to the region, Ricardo Zúñiga, emphasized the point earlier, saying, “we see corruption as one of the most important root causes [of migration] to be dealt with.”
The vice president and U.S. State Department are in good and plentiful company in focusing on the corrosive, economically distorting impact of corruption. Multilateral banks, think tanks, civil society organizations, and a raft of studies have generated a growing anti-corruption industry dedicated to tracking, measuring, reporting on, and denouncing the evils of public and private rent-seeking.
