Many of the things that make philately the world’s best hobby—attractiveness of the stamps themselves, international markets, very high values for easily transferrable pieces of paper—have made stamps one of the preeminent bribery tools of the twenty-first century. Because bribery of government and business officials is not all that pervasive in the United States (though still, unfortunately, too common), we tend to overlook the amount of bribery around the world and its impact on stamp prices. In the US, very few people would try to bribe a judge or an IRS agent or customs official. In many countries, such bureaucrats look at bribery income as part of their pay.
Take the People’s Republic of China for instance. In the PRC, if you want to add a room to your home, the permits are cheap, but the bribe to the government official for the permit is expensive, and if not paid, the work permit simply doesn’t get issued. But China has very strict rules on bribery, and officials caught taking bribes can be executed. But many people in China collect stamps. And gifts to friends and colleagues are a part of the culture. Many stamps are given as gifts to smooth the flow of permits and variances. Stamps are hard to trace, and who can say whether official x has taken bribes or just happens to like the Chinese Monkey stamps (the most common bribe in China and worth about $1,400 each), of which he has, say, a hundred. I use a personal index to determine the impact that the Chinese governments and bribery initiative is having. If the price of Chinese stamps are steady or going downwards as they are now (due to China’s economic problems) and the price of the Monkey stamp is going up, I tend to think the government, despite some highly visible prosecutions, is not having great success in its efforts.