1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808000903321

Autore

Fisman Raymond

Titolo

Economic gangsters : corruption, violence, and the poverty of nations / / Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, N.J., : Princeton University Press, 2010

ISBN

1-282-93620-4

9786612936203

1-4008-3479-1

Edizione

[With a New postscript by the authors]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (255 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

MiguelEdward

Disciplina

364.1323

Soggetti

Corruption - Economic aspects

Political corruption - Economic aspects

Smuggling

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-237) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Chapter One. Fighting for Economic Development -- Chapter Two. Suharto, Inc. -- Chapter Three. The Smuggling Gap -- Chapter Four. Nature or Nurture? Understanding the Culture of Corruption -- Chapter Five. No Water, No Peace -- Chapter Six. Death by a Thousand Small Cuts -- Chapter Seven. The Road Back from War -- Chapter Eight. Learning to Fight Economic Gangsters -- Epilogue. Doing Better this Time -- Postscript to the Paperback Edition -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Meet the economic gangster. He's the United Nations diplomat who double-parks his Mercedes on New York City streets at rush hour because the cops can't touch him--he has diplomatic immunity. He's the Chinese smuggler who dodges tariffs by magically transforming frozen chickens into frozen turkeys. The dictator, the warlord, the unscrupulous bureaucrat who bilks the developing world of billions in aid. The calculating crook who views stealing and murder as just another part of his business strategy. And, in the wrong set of circumstances, he might just be you. In Economic Gangsters, Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel take readers into the secretive, chaotic, and brutal worlds inhabited by these lawless and violent thugs. Join these



two sleuthing economists as they follow the foreign aid money trail into the grasping hands of corrupt governments and shady underworld characters. Spend time with ingenious black marketeers as they game the international system. Follow the steep rise and fall of stock prices of companies with unseemly connections to Indonesia's former dictator. See for yourself what rainfall has to do with witch killings in Tanzania--and more. Fisman and Miguel use economics to get inside the heads of these "gangsters," and propose solutions that can make a difference to the world's poor--including cash infusions to defuse violence in times of drought, and steering the World Bank away from aid programs most susceptible to corruption. In a new postscript, the authors look at how economists might use new tools to better understand, and fight back against, corruption and violence in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Take an entertaining walk on the dark side of global economic development with Economic Gangsters.