[blagie]

FYI: Executives of F500 multinationals are not the "general population."

The competition needed to be an executive at a F500 multinational extreme. There are many good studies on the topic, from "Dictator's Handbook" to "Power." The latter should be read with a grain of salt, but has helpful insights.

Elected politicians -- above some level -- operate under analogous constraints too. If you don't take an election donation in return for political favors, your opponent will.

I think the decline of the integrity of MIT (as for executives and politicians) became inevitable once competition and $$$ reached a certain threshold.