Final answer:
Bribery is the act of influencing someone through valuable incentives, while a kickback is a concealed payment returned as part of a financial transaction. An example of bribery is a company paying a politician for favorable laws; a kickback example is contractors paying off city officials for business contracts. Both corrupt practices harm the integrity of economic and political systems.
Step-by-step explanation:
Bribery and kickbacks are both forms of corruption, but they occur in different contexts and have slightly different characteristics. Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value as a means of influencing the actions of an individual holding a public or legal duty. An example of bribery could be a business offering money to a politician in exchange for support or passage of legislation favorable to the business. This could significantly impact the fairness of legislation and the integrity of political processes.
Kickbacks involve a return of a portion of the money already exchanged in a transaction as a means of a concealed referral fee or payment. For instance, in machine politics such as that seen in Tammany Hall in the 1860s and 1870s, contractors wanting to do business in the city had to pay kickbacks to the bosses to secure contracts. This type of behavior undermines the competitive bidding process and leads to inflated costs and potential misuse of public funds.