1) Please check "The Republic" by Plato (375 BC), Book II, "Ring of Gyges", about invisibilty and corruption, and Socrates' later answer explaining how it ends in unhapiness for the abusers.
2) Corruption is also a socially accepted tool used by governments in developing countries to "burn" away public money, as investments in research and technological innovation, or military expenditures, are in developed countries. In all cases, it "adjusts" the speed of the overall economic machinery.
If you'd like to see how corruption shows up even in extremely wealthy and sophisticated environments, you'll find fine fiction examples in the TV series "24" with Kiefer Sutherland (2001-2010) in a Counter Terrorism Unit.