Abstract

The concept of corruption is one of the discussed concepts in the social sciences literature. There are various studies that have argued that corruption undermine development, but less emphasis has been placed on the benefits of corruption to the development of human society. This study engages in the cost-benefit analysis of corruption within the framework of political economy of public choice. This study employed the descriptive research design with data collected from secondary sources such as textbooks, Journals and other internet sources while content analysis was used to analyse the data collected. It is argued here that despite the negative consequences of corruption to human society, there are instances where corruption is required to lubricate commercial activities. This explains the disparity in what constitute corruption from one society to the other. Furthermore, this study recommend that Global North countries should formulate and implement national policies that will ensure that stolen funds are returned immediately they are received from the country where these funds are looted. Lastly, the interest accrued from past stolen funds deposited in Western societies bank be repatriated to their countries of origin, in addition to the main funds laundered. As funds kept in their countries of origin will also generate interest, though may not be higher than the interest from western societies but will add value to the country-of-origin economy. Thus, gives developing countries some levels of confidence that the developed societies commitment to the fight against corruption.