sponses to this will be directed at businesses. In order to uphold public health and safety, ethical busi- nesspeople are expected to comply with licensing requirements and operate only once a license has been granted. Businesspeople who don’t comply with licensing requirements bear individual respon- sibility and are liable to punishment. A second aspect of the ethics of business licensing concerns the behavior of officials responsible for granting licenses. In the developing world, business licensing practices have been described as, ‘‘so corrupted they are simply income opportunities for those charged with enforcing regulation’’ (Devas and Kelly, 2001, p. 382). This study explores a third, generally ne- glected, aspect of the ethics of