Extortion (or solicitation) and bribery are among the main forms of corruption. Both may be defined as the act or effect of giving or receiving a thing of value, so that a person acts or does not act in violation of a formal or implicit rule about what that person ought or ought not to do, to the benefit of the person who gives the thing of value or a third party. In bribery, it is the beneficiary that takes the initiative—for example, when a company that wants to obtain a contract from a public authority makes a payment to the politician who has the power to decide who gets the contract. In extortion, it is the agent that takes the initiative.

Both extortion and bribery ...