Narrow your search

Library

KU Leuven (1)

LUCA School of Arts (1)

National Bank of Belgium (1)

Odisee (1)

Thomas More Kempen (1)

Thomas More Mechelen (1)

UCLL (1)

UGent (1)

VIVES (1)

VUB (1)


Resource type

book (2)


Language

English (2)


Year
From To Submit

2014 (1)

2011 (1)

Listing 1 - 2 of 2
Sort by

Book
Trust and Identity in a Small, Post-Socialist, Post-Crisis Society
Authors: --- --- ---
Year: 2014 Publisher: Washington, D.C., The World Bank,

Loading...
Export citation

Choose an application

Bookmark

Abstract

The principal focus in the substantial literature on impediments to economic development has been on the inadequacies of policies and governance. However, successful economic development requires effectiveness of markets and incentives for investment, which in turn require trust. This paper reports on trust in a development context. The paper uses trust experiments, a post-experiment survey, and econometric analysis relating trust to identity and other personal attributes in the setting of Montenegro, a small, recently-independent, post-socialist, post-crisis society. External validity was sought by providing sufficient material reward to balance identity-related expressive motives and by having two groups of subjects, one usual university students and another group that, while also students, was somewhat older and had had greater market or commercial experience. The paper reviews cultural priors that can be expected to affect trust and distinguishes between generalized trust that can be socially beneficial and particularized trust that can be disadvantageous for development. The empirical results suggest that trust among private individuals is not an impediment to development in Montenegro. As a result, policy reform can improve economic and social outcomes. However, the results redirect the focus to issues of governance and political entrenchment as potential explanations for impediments to development.


Book
Mafias on the move : how organized crime conquers new territories
Author:
ISBN: 1283001276 9786613001276 1400836727 9781400836727 9781283001274 9780691128559 0691128553 9780691158013 0691158010 Year: 2011 Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press,

Loading...
Export citation

Choose an application

Bookmark

Abstract

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West. As Federico Varese explains in this compelling and daring book, the truth is more complicated. Varese has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. Varese spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity. In a series of matched comparisons, Varese charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. He explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. In a pioneering chapter on China, he examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. Based on ground-breaking field work and filled with dramatic stories, this book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.

Listing 1 - 2 of 2
Sort by