Usingamethod popularised by Jeffrey Frankel ofHarvardUniversityandShang-JinWeiof Columbia, theylooked at the fluctuationsof Asian currenciesagainst theSwissfranc.
"The inflation concern makes the government much more willing to exercise this tool, " said Shang-Jin Wei, Professor of Chinese Business and Economy at Columbia University.
One recent study, by an American academic, Shang-Jin Wei, calculated that an increase in the level of corruption from that of Singapore to that of, say, Mexico would be the equivalent of increasing the tax burden on foreign investors by over 20%.