Moises Naim, editor of Foreign Policy, has spent more than a decade studying the illicit economy that moves everything from drugs and guns to pirated movies and human body parts around the world. In the book, Illicit, he outlines what amount to a shadow system of global business and trade.
In Illicit, you write that “networks of stateless traders are changing the world as much as terrorists are, probably more.” Could you elaborate on that?
In terms of the scope and the frequency, illicit trades far outnumber terrorism. And in terms of the consequences they’re having for democracy and for the functioning of markets, illicit trade has a far greater impact. It undermines entire industries and reshapes cities.
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