Authors@Google: Edward Miguel January 31, 2009

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Edward Miguel visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations." This event took place on November 5, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series.

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.

Edward Miguel is associate professor of economics and director of the Center of Evaluations for Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley.