Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Update)

26 Sep 2025 · 58 min · Episode 481

Episode Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Update)

0:00 57:34

In this episode we first published in 2021, the political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that different forms of government create different styles of corruption — and that the U.S. and China have more in common than we’d like to admit.

• SOURCES:

• Yuen Yuen Ang, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.

• RESOURCES:

• "China’s Anti-Graft Show Is Educational, With Unintended Lessons," by Li Yuan (The New York Times, 2022). • China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption, by Yuen Yuen Ang (2020). • "A Fair Assessment of China’s IP Protection," by Shang-Jin Wei and Xinding Yu (Project Syndicate, 2019). • The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It, by Anat Admati (2013). • "A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis," by Deniz Igan, Prachi Mishra, and Thierry Tressel (2011).

• EXTRAS:

• "China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers." by Freakonomics Radio (2025). • American Culture series by Freakonomics Radio (2021).

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Links in the notes 9

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