Small, rich countries tend to be the least corrupt, according to Transparency International. Each year it compiles a Corruption Perception Index based on surveys of business and expert opinion. The 2008 report ranks Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden as the least corrupt countries. Somalia has the most corrupt public officials. Italy is the lowest-ranked of the big rich countries. Russia’s score is scarcely higher than conflict-ridden states such as Iraq. Perceptions of corruption change only slowly, but the report notes improvements in some countries, including Georgia, Nigeria, South Korea and Turkey. It also detects a significant drop in standards in rich countries, such as Britain and Norway.

...

Contagion spread across the financial system on September 17th.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills fell that day to 0.02%, their lowest since daily records began in 1954. ...

Despite worries about the economic impact of the banking crisis on jobs, an international survey from Manpower, an employment-services firm, shows that in most countries a majority of employers are planning to increase their payrolls in the final quarter of 2008. Prospects are bright in emerging economies, especially India, where the percentage of employers planning to hire more staff exceeds that of those intending to shed labour by 43 points. The outlook is duller in the United States and Europe. Indeed in Spain, the share of employers intending to cut staff outweighs that of would-be hirers by five points. Compared with intentions for the third quarter of the year, however, the outlook has generally become gloomier.

...

America remains the most congenial country for information-technology firms, according to an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company of The Economist. The index rates 66 countries—the top 15 of which are shown—on the support they provide for a competitive IT industry in six broad areas that include research and development, human capital and legal systems. Taiwan’s move since last year from sixth to second place has been helped by a particularly strong score on R&D. America does less well on R&D, but continues to lead the pack because of its excellent performance in the five other dimensions, such as its ability to develop talent and robust legal protection of intellectual property.

...

Senior managers in the Middle East, Russia, and China are better paid than those working in the West, once their cost of living is taken into account, according to Hay Group, a consultancy. Its study compares managers’ disposable income in 51 countries, by calculating average salaries adjusted for taxes and living expenses. On that basis, managers in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have twice the spending power of their counterparts in America, who rank only 41st in the survey. A shortage of talent in China and the Middle East has lifted wages. Managers in Eastern Europe have also enjoyed big gains in spending power. Executive pay in India has lagged behind that in other emerging economies.

...