Abstract

Non-transparency, i.e., widespread corruption in public administrations, favours organized crime in all its activities. This chapter shows that this is not only an ethical-philosophical statement but is also statistically verifiable and it is possible to estimate the damage that the level of corruption causes to the legal economy and other sectors. Corruption is measured here through the index elaborated by Transparency International, whose reliability is verified by comparison with two other indices, recently proposed at the international level. The most important result is the significant link between the turnover of “drugs”, in various countries and in various years, and the corruption index, in the same countries and in the same years, as verified based on official data and official estimates, showing quantitatively how the earnings of criminal organizations are largely invested in corruption. It then highlights specific aspects that are related to the level of corruption such as the link, very significant, between transparency and competitiveness, the latter measured by the World Economic Forum indices, showing how corruption negatively affects the legal economy of the country and, using additional indicators, other important aspects as Life Satisfaction, Education etc.