
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.
In this surprisingly spry read, authors and economics professors Fisman and Miguel tackle economic development issues in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, beginning with the question: after decades of independence and billions in foreign aid, why are so many developing countries still mired in poverty? . . . This thorough, thoughtful guide to global corruption is an engaging, disarmingly upbeat read for fans of Freakonomics and Malcolm Gladwell.
This is sparkling stuff, and the story is enjoyably retold in Fisman and Miguel's slim new volume, Economic Gangsters. I recommend the book wholeheartedly; it is engaging and confidently written, and it describes research of genuine interest. . . . Economic Gangsters tackles two big 'institutional' problems of development economics--corruption and violence--through a series of vignettes based on research studying the value of political connections, smuggling between China and Hong Kong, the links between rainfall and civil war, witch killings in Africa, and rebuilding Vietnam after 'the American War'.
[S]mart and eminently readable . . . [F]isman and Miguel try to do for global poverty what [Steven] Levitt did for domestic economic issues. For example, they look at the way 'witches' are killed in Tanzania whenever rainfalls fail and food is scarce; it turns out that families try to save food by executing less-productive elderly women as witches.
Columbia's Ray Fisman and Berkeley's Ted Miguel are two of the most creative and interesting economists I know. Each is driven to better understand just what keeps poor countries in poverty, and they are willing to try some pretty amazing research strategies to figure it out. They have traveled far and wide--both geographically and intellectually--and in their beautifully written book Economic Gangsters, they shine a well-honed statistical spotlight on the twin evils of corruption and violence. The book is a dead-set page turner, and there's nothing more fun than feeling like you are next to them as they travel the world in search of the scoundrels responsible for so much suffering.
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Research
- Corruption, Norms and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets
- Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach
- Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production
- Poverty and Violence: An Overview of Recent Research and Implications for Foreign Aid
- Poverty and Witch Killing
- The Long-run Impact of Bombing Vietnam
- Tribe or Nation? Nation Building and Public Goods in Kenya Versus Tanzania
- War and Institutions: New Evidence from Sierra Leone
- Worms at work: Long-run impacts of a child health investment
- Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities
Books
Articles
- Corruption and Culture
- Do Conflicts Cause Poverty, or Vice Versa
- How Economics Can Defeat Corruption
- How to Prevent War and Famine
- Political Ties Boost Bottom Lines
- Stop Conflict Before It Starts
Talks
- Climate, Conflict and Development
- Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence and the Poverty of Nations (Microsoft)
- Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations (Google)
- Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations (Town Hall Seattle)
- Master of Development Practice (MDP) Special Lecture Series
- Masters in Development Practice (MDP) Chat
- TEDxBerkeley talk: Climate, Conflict, and African Development
- Why are Poor Countries Poor?
Media
- A Gangster Has Many Faces
- A Ticket for Corruption
- Academics Dish the Dirt on UN's Worst New York Parking Violators
- Bewitched
- Beyond Parking Tickets
- Book Review: Economic Gangsters - Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations
- Buck Stops Here for Corruption
- Can Parking Tickets Measure Corruption?
- Combate à corrupção no Brasil: é possível?
- Corrupcion: Fenomeno Cultural Pero Superable en el Corto Plazo
- Corruption Loves Company
- Corruption and Revolt - Does tolerating graft undermine national security?
- Corruption as a Cultural Phenomena
- Corrupção e Estacionamento Proibido
- Creation de la Compagnie Airmate Ltd.
- Data: National Parking
- Did Cold Weather Cause the Salem Witch Trials?
- Diplomatic Immunity, Corruption and Parking Tickets
- Diplomatic Scofflaws and the Culture of Corruption
- Diplomats Ignore London's Congestion Road Tolls
- Diplomats, Cops and Corruption
- Economic Gangsters
- Economic Gangsters Rule Poor Countries
- Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations
- Egypt Diplomats Worst Traffic Offenders, Says London Paper
- El Agua, Elemento Para Combatir la Pobreza
- Envoys' Parking Ticket Toll
- Finding Tools to Fight Corruption in Emerging Southeast Asian Economies
- Fisman and Miguel, Economic Gangsters
- Friends, Enemies and Parking Tickets
- Gauging Corruption in a Country via Monitoring Parking Violations
- Godot’yu beklerken
- Inside Corruption in Poor Countries
- Interview with Edward Miguel
- Parking Tickets Illuminate International Corruption
- Pourquoi les riches s’autorisent-ils à frauder?
- Prácticas Poco Diplomáticas
- Primary Sources: Diplomatic Impunity
- SA Scores Highly on Parking-Ticket Corruption Indicator
- Social Scientists Develop Profile To Spot Likely Tax Evaders
- Study Links Extreme Weather, Poverty and Witch Killing
- Study: Diplomats Whose Countries Dislike U.S. Less Likely to Pay Fines
- Study: U.N. Diplomats With Dim View of U.S. More Likely to Ignore Traffic Tickets
- The Case of the Unpaid Parking Ticket
- The Culture of Corruption
- The Diplomat-Parking-Violation Corruption Index
- Vi drukner i en skidtpøl af officiel korruption
- Weltretter: Nicht alle Ökonomen sind Narren, manche sind sogar Superhelden
- What Economic Sleuths Can Tell Us about Our Corrupt Politics
- Why It's Dangerous to Be a Witch in a Recession