Obviously it depends on the local economic conditions, but say you travel to a middle income country like India or a nation in Latin America and some cop stops you and starts giving you trouble. He obviously is fishing for a bribe so you can keep moving, but how much should a naive American tourist pay? too little would seem insulting and too much means you got completely robbed. I would guess about $50USD would get you out of a traffic stop but I have no idea.

this seems like an important thing to know about but people are always so hush hush about it like bribery isn't standard practice in like half the world.