Financial Transparency Coalition

On the Task Force, blog authors often argue with passion and conviction against a broad suite of crimes against the impoverished.   With perhaps some of the most vehemence and certainty, we point to the evils of corruption: its destructive impact on development, its destabilizing effect on political systems, and its brutal consequences for the world’s poorest people.  Since it is such a clear evil, we rarely discuss the phenomenon in a nuanced context or in terms of incompatible interests, which it often represents.  For that reason, I believe it is important to have a discussion of corruption from another...

Today Global Financial Integrity released yet another enlightening report. This one, titled “Transnational Crime in the Developing World,” estimates the global illicit flow of goods, guns, people, and natural resources worldwide. The paper puts the global figure, which both flows in and out of developing countries, at $650 billion, of which drugs account for $320 billion and counterfeiting accounts for $250 billion. In a Foreword to the paper, Raymond Baker notes “netting the economic effects of criminally derived outflows and inflows is flawed reasoning because both sides of the equation produce adverse consequences for nations at...

When a street vendor in Tunisia set himself on fire in a demonstration against his government last month, he ignited a cascade of protests in his own country and abroad. Many of the Tunisian protesters were unemployed college graduates, doctors, and lawyers, who rose up against the rampant poverty and persistent unemployment, which have formed a backdrop against the lavish lifestyles of President Zine el-Abdine Ben Ali and his family. Over the last two decades of their reign, it appears that the Ben Ali family treated the country’s wealth like their own personal treasure chest, buying stakes...

There are a few types of professionals who should probably not become bankers later in life. Professional skydivers. Football players. And world-class poker players. The reason for this is not because these individuals are not admirable or intelligent or honest. It has more to do with risk. As I have noted before, some professions lend themselves to individuals who are risk preferers, which means they get more utility (gratification) from each additional dollar than they did from the dollar before it. Football players tend to be risk preferers. Other risk preferers include...