Is/was the construction industry particularly prone to corruption of various sorts?
If so, what factors make it so?
Is/was corruption more prominent for private or public construction? Is/was it more prominent for various types of construction?
Mods, please prevent this thread from turning into a shitfight over the 2016 election. Trump may provide good examples but this thread shouldn’t become about him.
Corruption and scams can happen a variety of ways. One of the most common corrupt practices is the bribing of inspectors or other officials to look the other way when substandard material is used or codes are violated.
For the home owner, it’s more a problem of scamming than corruption. Someone low-balls a remodeling bid, takes half the money down, starts the work, then never returns to finish it. When the law finally catches up to them and takes away their license, they open a new business under a different name (of a relative, for instance) and continue as usual.
That kind of corruption usually involves a developer and a senior figure in local government with influence over planning. The big problems for developers is first acquiring land, and then getting permission to build. Local government can re-zone land or favour bids from their favoured developer.
It isn’t hard to come up with a whole slew of reasons/opportunities.
Construction involves large amounts of money. Both expended and made. Both invite corruption.
Construction is highly regulated at many levels, from approvals, design, standards, materials, to safety. All of these affect the ability to make money, and can be subject to corruption of the process. Symmetry in the process - bribing officials to get something shady passed, officials demanding bribes to allow even legit things to pass.
A massive amount of the process is sub-contracted. All the sub-contractors want to make money, and will act to improve their margins.
Cash flow is dire. A 95% complete building is worthless. Until the building is complete the owner has all their (and borrowed) money tied up in an asset that is making them nothing. They are thus very vulnerable to anything that delays completion in a manner that most businesses avoid. This makes them a ripe target for all manner of corrupt practices.
Calling a strike half way though the pour of the foundations of a large building was a great way focussing the minds of the construction company.
Costs are highly customized and often quite opaque, so there is more room to build in some overcharging than there would be in, say, the trading of commodities.
No show jobs are common. The pay is disbursed for someone who doesn’t actually work, they may not actually exist, and ends up in someone’s pocket. Bid rigging for materials and services is easy to do when there’s a limited number of suppliers.