Fisman / Miguel Economic Gangsters

Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations
With a New postscript by the authors
ISBN: 978-1-4008-3479-2
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 264 Seiten, EPUB

Getting inside the heads of the developing world’s dictators, warlords, and corrupt politicians

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fisman, Ray

Miguel, Edward

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Wohnen & Obdachlosigkeit
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Unternehmensorganisation, Corporate Responsibility Unternehmensethik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziale Ungleichheit, Armut, Rassismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter One: Fighting For Economic Development 1

Chapter Two: Suharto, Inc. 22

Chapter Three: The Smuggling Gap 53

Chapter Four: Nature or Nurture? Understanding the Culture of Corruption 76

Chapter Five: No Water, No Peace 111

Chapter Six: Death by a Thousand Small Cuts 136

Chapter Seven: The Road Back From War 159

Chapter Eight: Learning to Fight Economic Gangsters 186

Epilogue: Doing Better This Time 207

Postscript to the Paperback Edition 211

Ac know ledg ments 215

Notes 219

Index 239

Über Autor(innen)

Raymond Fisman is the Lambert Family Professor of Social Enterprise and director of the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School. He is a columnist for Slate. Edward Miguel is professor of economics and director of the Center of Evaluations for Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley.