Financial Transparency Coalition

I am rarely surprised when those who are not economists make egregious economic errors. I am only moderately surprised when those errors are in the Financial Times. I suppose I should get used to it. Here’s a little basic economics. Economists, whether talking about banking or housing, trees or oil, always follow a set of fundamental principals. These include very basic ideas. For example, when conducting cost-benefit analysis, count the entire range of relevant benefits and costs. Say you want to do an economic analysis of a project to build a bridge. You count all the costs—labor, materials, etc.—and all...

If you read my posts, you might be aware that when it comes to bribery and corruption I am often skeptical and even more frequently condemnatory. But I also try to give credit where it’s due. Despite my criticisms and my often snarky tone, my message is one of guarded optimism. I am optimistic in the face of the shortcomings and the outright failings of our international systems because I see a positive trajectory. More trials of foreign bribery, more exposures of government corruption, and more revelations of dictator’s deposits in foreign banks are all good signs. Of...

For many years economists and policy makers have taken issue with GDP as a measure of national wealth. Statistics like these tend to over-emphasize certain elements of wealth and under-estimate others. Economists often point to the fact that, for example, income generated from the sales of cigarettes is included in GDP (something which might actually have negative value) while value generated from a stay-at-home-mom (or dad) is not. As I’ve noted, there are problems with other economic indicators like the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the unemployment rate, and the traditional measure of Illicit Financial Flows—all of which are used...

On October 12th, 2002, a group of terrorists detonated three bombs on the island of Bali in Indonesia, killing 202 and injuring 240 more. The two larger bombs targeted foreign tourists in a nightclub area and the smaller bomb detonated outside the United States consulate and caused minor damage. In 2008, Indonesia executed three of the more than 30 people convicted in connected with the mass murders. Many of these convicts were associated with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant Islamist group in Southeast Asia. The United States believes JI has ties to al-Qaeda and (had) a relationship with Osama...