Is There Any Difference Between A Bribe And An Incentive?

-

David Cameron, the United Kingdom prime minister, recently announced that his government would permit oil companies to carry out Fracking in some parts of the United Kingdom.  Fracking is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing. It refers to the process of creating fractures in rocks and rock formations by injecting fluid into cracks to force them further open.

The prime minister also promised that local authorities in the affected regions will be allowed to keep 100 % of the business tax rate which may arise from the oil exploration.  According to the government, this will serve as an incentive for further developments in the affected areas.  Critics, however, have argued that the decision is an act of bribery rather than an act of incentivising the local communities for greater good.

How can we establish that this decision to allow local authorities to take 100 per cent of business tax rate from companies involved in the oil fracking is an incentive rather than a bribe?  The answer can be found in the definitions of these two concepts – a bribe and an incentive. A bribe is to dishonestly persuade someone to act in one’s favour by a gift of money or other inducement.  This definition suggests that there is a clear intention on the part of the bribe giver to influence the recipient’s behaviour. That is, the person receiving the bribe is expected to act in favour of the bribe giver.

In contrast, an incentive is a thing that motivates or encourages someone to do something.  Unlike a bribe, there seems to be no act of compulsion to change the recipient’s behaviour implied in this definition.  The recipient of an incentive is free to act as he or she feels fit.  This assumption however is flawed.

The rationale for giving a bribe or an incentives is to influence the recipients’ behaviour in favour of the bribe or incentive giver.  A government cannot give incentives to people, for example, if it is certain that these people will not act in its favour.  Consider the issuing of food vouchers to people suspected of not having balanced diets in their meals for example. 

Although food vouchers might help these people to have balanced diet and remain healthy.  Food vouchers can also help to reduce the number of malnourished people who can fall sick and use hospital resources.  If it can spend less resources on hospitals, the government will have enough resources to take care of other sectors.  These can include spending more resources on the economy and education.  At the end these sectors will improve and everyone will fell happy with the government.  Thus, the government will get re-elected into power as a result of the indirect role played by the food voucher.

Similarly, employers cannot give incentives to employees if they are certain that these workers will not definitely act in the company’s favour.  They give incentives to employees so they can work harder and increase productivity.  Increase in productivity can result in more sales, leading to more profits for the employers.

It is apparent from these that both a bribe and an incentive are designed to achieve the same goal but in different ways.  A bribe is mostly used openly to influence the recipient’s behaviour whereas an Incentive is used covertly to influence the recipient’s behaviour.  Therefore, the decision by the UK to allow local authorities to keep all the business tax rate from oil companies involved in fracking process can be considered both a bribe and an incentive.  The definition will depend on the person doing the interpretation of the situation

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spanish Dog Fouling Law: Are Spanish Politicians Pursuing The Wrong Agenda?

-
Image
 Dog fouling Spain has some of the strictest laws regarding pets possession in Europe. One of its laws governing animal possession in Spain, for example, bans having exotic creatures as pets and requires dog, cat and ferret owners to declare their animals to the authority within three months of bringing them into the country. Until recently, however, Spain has no law nor sanction for failure to clean up after dog fouling in public places. It was up to dog owners whether to clean up such mess. This has now changed following the introduction of the dog fouling law. The new law states that the fine for any person failing to clean up after his or her dog fouling in a public place such as a park or kids play ground should be 1500 euros. The rationale for this legislation is to deter dog owners from leaving their dogs messing up public places such as parks. Regular visitors to parks can testify how the sight of such dog foul can be an eyesore. However, asking dog owners wh
Read more

Social Media Networks: Calls For Tighter Regulations

-
One of the most fascinating technological inventions of the twenty first century is the development of social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter, and Face book. These social media networks make it possible for people to meet new people and make friends, locate old friends and family members, or to form a relationship that can result in marriage. They also provide a platform in the form of advertising for conducting businesses. Despite these benefits provided by the social media networks certain things can go awfully wrong on the networks. The most recent example of how the social media network can be turned into a weapon of criminality is the case last week involving threatening rape and murder messages sent to a number of British women on Twitter. Feminists are attempting to use this incident to rally for support for tighter regulations on activities being conducted within social media networks. Is it possible to control activities within these networks? Having legislat
Read more

Marketing Tricks: How Many Times Have You Fallen Victim?

-
Image
 Fat free food Whereas business owners call them marketing strategies, none business owners regard them as marketing tricks. Regardless of what you like to call them, businesses cannot survive without marketing tricks. Marketing tricks are the flywheel that keeps businesses engine running. We tend not to be concerned about them because of our perception that we are familiar with them and can avoid them. However, a careful look at the marketing tricks used by businesses will reveal that many of us have fallen victims of them in the past and can still fall victim of the malpractice in future. Let us consider two of these popular tricks used in supermarkets. The first marketing trick used by retailers is relating to the slogan “75% reduced fat”. Items labelled 75% reduced fat are often displayed on supermarket shelves. Some of us who are conscious of our health tend to go for them to avoid consuming excess fat. Excess fat in the body is considered to be a risk factor for
Read more