Baksheesh backlash


This is simply brilliant.  First off, for you international travelers and residents, how many times have run across the stubborn (fill in the blank) official in some developing country when you’re trying to get through customs, fill out an application for a local phone, or simply get the right part for your car?

After the obligatory back-and-forth, the tone of said official softens, and is generally accompanied by a lowering of the chin, a slightly canted head, and a “knowing” twinkle of the eye under an overly officious wide-brimmed hat.  This is typically the cue to shake hands, discretely pass a neatly folded bill, and wait for magic to ensue.

In some places I’ve been, the coy look is simply replaced with the RCA dog stare.

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Well, an Indian expat physics professor at the University of Maryland came up with the idea to create the note in the picture here.  He, like the majority of people who have traveled to India (and other places), was so tired of the death-by-a thousand-duck-bites  process of greasing the thousands of bureaucratic palms, that he started passing out this valueless bill as a polite way of saying no.

The zero-rupee notes caught the attention of the NGO called 5th Pillar, and have distributed 1 million of these guys since 2007.  The Economist reports:

One official in Tamil Nadu was so stunned to receive the note that he handed back all the bribes he had solicited for providing electricity to a village. Another stood up, offered tea to the old lady from whom he was trying to extort money and approved a loan so her granddaughter could go to college.

This action is so elegant, so simple, and so effective.  One World Bank official observes that transforming social norms is the key to fighting petty corruption and the notes help that process. 

Where else might something like this work?  I can think of a dozen scenarios…love to hear your ideas.

Author

  • Laurance Alvarado

    Laurance Alvarado is a senior director with a prominent New York-based international turnaround and restructuring firm and the board chairman of the Morley Publishing Group. Over the last 25 years, he’s run consulting practices in Washington, D.C., Latin America, and the Middle East and has done business in more than 20 countries. He is active in social concerns, attends Traditional Latin Mass, and is a member of the Pinellas Schola Cantualis. He’s a cycling enthusiast, commutes around Washington on a Brompton, races Porsches, and competes in anything with wheels. He’s a native Texan from San Antonio and a Texas Aggie who served his country in the Air Force. He loves history, strategy, free enterprise, sailing, dogs, and — most of all — his bride of 18 years.

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