McMafia - Misha Glenny

The subtitle of this book is 'A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld'; however, it would be better described as 'how better to understand the worldwide shadow economy.' I say this because, regardlessof whether various criminal activities detailed in the book are legal or not in various countries, they do take place and are part of the worldwide economy. In other words, they are industries, with particular bases in the world, various groups who take part in them, and various products that are purchased throughout the world.

The book takes a look at various regions and various activities. For regions, most of the focus goes to the former USSR and Eastern bloc countries, expanding from there to Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

In terms of economic activities, the book covers a gamut of businesses that run in the spectrum from illicit to gray to legal. The author is thorough, with his choices for topics including arms trafficking, terrorism, money laundering, natural gas trading, human trafficking, drug smuggling in various shapes and forms, merchandise counterfeiting, money laundering, gambling, identity theft, the 419 scam, and racketeering.

In terms of revelations, I would say that the description of Dubai's real estate industry as a massive money laundering factory was one of the most novel pieces of information contained in the book. Additionally, I had not known that Israel was one of the main terminii of women trafficked through Eastern Europe from Moldova and other parts of the former USSR.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins

This book discusses international economic development. Comprised of vignettes from over 35 years of the author's life, it follows his career as a development economist working in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

The author's thesis, simply stated, is that the world's economy has developed in a perversely unsustainable fashion. He places much of the blame for the problems caused by development on the overemphasis on GDP as an indicator of development, regardless of social inequalities and externalities that may be caused by GDP growth.

Furthermore, he states that he worked to give extremely optimistic economic forecasts in order that developing countries could be saddled with huge loans from international financial institutions so that such countries would be unable to repay. The developing countries would thereby be placed in debt to international financial institutions and developed countries.

The book asks interesting questions about the nature of development, international trade, international organizations, and economic theory. Furthermore, the fantastic nature of the stories told in the book increases the level of fascination for the reader, as I repeatedly asked myself 'could this be true'?

The Road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell

Oddly enough, while this book provides great food for thought regarding modern life and the role of coal in it, as well as about socialism, and the reasons that societies adopt socialist measures, it does not talk very much about Wigan Pier. Therefore, the choice of title a slightly disjointing to a contemporary reader, who likely has no conception of where Wigan is, or what its connection is with coal mining. To provide a similar example, imagine if John Steinbeck had set 'Cannery Row' in a vineyard.

In fact, the book splits cleanly down the middle. The first half of the book describes conditions in coal mining in England in the 1930s, while the second half of the book details Orwell's thoughts about the reasons for lack of success of socialism in the world of 1937. Regardless of the passage of time, much of Orwell's thinking continues to resonate today, just as we continue to depend on coal despite the passage of over 70 years.