Gift Bans and Falling Sales
According to an article in the November 29 issue of The
Economist, when China banned gifts to government officials,
sales of the principal producer of baijiu, a sort of Chinese vodka,
fell 78% in just a year.
The only sales that would likely go down if gifts were banned across the board in the United States would be restaurant and golf club sales. That is because petty bribery is less a problem here than the ongoing reciprocal relationships between lobbyists and the government officials their clients are seeking to influence.
The only sales that would likely go down if gifts were banned across the board in the United States would be restaurant and golf club sales. That is because petty bribery is less a problem here than the ongoing reciprocal relationships between lobbyists and the government officials their clients are seeking to influence.