According to Transparencia Mexicana, Mexican households participated in 214 millions acts of corruption. Families paid $2.3 billion in bribes in 2001 to receive public services -- from getting phone service to obtaining exception from military service -- a sum equivalent to about one percent of Mexico's gross domestic product. The average bribe in Mexico amounted to an estimated $10. A Mexican family, the organization reports, pays an average of $109.50 in bribes each year -- not an insignificant number in a country where the average annual income is $9,100.

Chart 3

According to anti-corruption czar Francisco Barrio, the cost of corruption by government officials and by everyday Mexicans surpassed the amount budgeted for education by more than three percentage points -- some 9.5 percent of Mexico's GDP of $550 billion. Recent studies by the World Economic Forum, an international organization that works to improve worldwide economic conditions, found that the business environment such as rule of law, transparency and corruption were disincentives for foreign investment in Mexico. Corruption, which is often described as a tax, adds to the cost of doing business. The Opacity Index, a study conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, found that Mexico lost $8.5 billion in foreign direct investments in 1999 due to corruption and other suspect legal or economic practices.