1/4 People think Eastern Europe is backward because we just don’t have enough money yet. If we were rich, we’d have no need for corruption.

Wrong.

EE is in a game theoretical equilibrium that makes a lot of sense. Play “Western Europe” here and get destroyed.

2/4 Corruption is what blossoms in a place where you expect other people to cheat, so you cheat first, harder.

Nepotism is what happens when you can only trust blood relatives.

Bureaucracy is needed if you can’t trust the other party to honor their end of the bargain.

3/4 There may be specific historical or nature/nurture constellations that brought us here, it doesn’t much matter - we are in a bind.

You can’t be the first collaborator in a world of defectors, or you’ll get smoked.

4/4 The balance of collaboration to defection needs to shift massively to transform the culture.

Things seem to be getting better —maybe because we’ve imported EU bureaucracy and exported most of our organized crime.

But, overall, this is a battle that will be centuries long.