Speed Money

Term

Speed Money

Idea level

Concept (within Unbundled Corruption Typology)

Definition

Speed money, in Yuen Yuen Ang’s Unbundled Corruption Index, is a type of corruption that involves paying petty bribes to regular bureaucrats to bypass red tape or harassment. It buys temporary relief from obstacles (“greasing the wheels”), whereas access money buys lucrative privileges (“sludging the wheels”).

Ang likens speed money to painkillers: it may lessen pain but does not spur growth. For businesses, it is a form of tax, and even small bribes can be a crushing burden to the poor.

Sources

Earlier articulation:

• Ang, Y.Y. (2016). How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, Chapter 5: From Building to Preserving Markets.

Canonical source:

• Ang, Y.Y. (2020). China’s Gilded Age, Chapter 1; Chapter 2: Unbundling Corruption Across Countries.

Genealogy

[Typology] Unbundling Corruption
→ [Critique] Bribery literature centers speed money and “greasing the wheels” analogy while neglecting access money
→ [Concept] Speed Money vs. Access Money
→ [Application] Distinguishes Speed Money (bribes paid to bypass obstacles) vs. Access Money bribes to buy lucrative deals or privileges

Quotes

[First articulation / continuity from 2016 book]

At early growth stages, corruption took the form of what some social scientists call speed money, that is, payments to bypass red tape and speed up administrative processes. Then, as an economy matured, new opportunities to reap supersized profits by cashing in on emergent markets emerged, opportunities that were previously unimaginable when Glorious County was only a poor agrarian economy… This structural conversion of the economy from rural to urban generated a new form of corruption that I call access money, that is, access to the game of fabulous wealth creation.

— Ang, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, Chapter 5 (p. 42).

[Definition of speed money vs. access money]  

• Speed money means petty bribes that businesses or citizens pay to bureaucrats to get around hurdles or speed things up.

• Access money encompasses high-stakes rewards extended by business actors to powerful officials, not just for speed, but to access exclusive, valuable privileges.

— Ang, China’s Gilded Age, Chapter 1 (p. 10–11)

[Grease vs. sludge] Much of the literature on bribery centers on ‘speed money’ but neglects ‘access money.’ The popular analogy of ‘greasing the wheels’ implies overcoming friction or cumbersome regulations, which is equivalent to speed money in my typology. Access money, on the other hand, buys special deals and lucrative rights, making it more sludge than grease.

— Ang, China’s Gilded Age, Chapter 1 (p. 11)

[Speed money as painkillers]

Some argue that speed money (petty bribery) enhances efficiency by allowing citizens to overcome administrative hurdles and delays. As Huntington wrote, ‘Corruption may be one way of surmounting traditional laws or bureaucratic regulations which hamper economic expansion.’ But this kind of corruption still imposes a cost – and thus constitutes a tax – on citizens and businesses. Particularly for the poor, even small bribes are crushing burdens. So, although speed money is not as debilitating as petty and grand theft, it does not spur growth. Alternatively, think of speed money as painkillers: although they lessen pain, they don’t give health benefits, and consuming them in excess is harmful.

— Ang, China’s Gilded Age, Chapter 1 (p. 11–13)

Concept Constellation

Across Ang’s work, Speed Money consistently co-appears with the following concepts and analytic themes:

• Coevolutionary Development (coevolution of economy and corruption)

• Unbundling Corruption

• Access Money

• Greasing the wheels (speed money) vs. sludging the wheels (access money)

• Corruption as tax (speed money) vs. as investment (access money)

• Corruption as painkillers (speed money) vs. steroids of capitalism (access money)