Rick and Bubba for President: The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive Take on Washington
Author: Rick Burgess
Two-time New York Times best-selling authors and zany radio hosts Rick and Bubba return just in time for the 2008 presidential election to present their thoughts on everything political.
In Rick and Bubba for President, America's self-proclaimed "Sexiest Fat Men Alive" tackle timely campaign issues with hilarity, flair, and panache that won't be seen on the campaign trail. Readers will love Rick & Bubba's trademark humor as it is openly and honestly applied to the hot political topics politicians are so careful to avoid. Including everything from top ten campaign slogans to Rick and Bubba White House etiquette and a state dinner menu, Rick and Bubba for President is sure to delight readers of all political persuasions.
BONUS! Includes a "Best of Rick & Bubba" CD!
Look this: Tribes or Professional iPhone and iPod Touch Programming
Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations
Author: Raymond Fisman
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. Spend time with ingenious black marketeers as they game the international system. Follow the steep rise and fall of stock prices of companies with unseemly connections to Indonesia's former dictator. See for yourself what rainfall has to do with witch killings in Tanzania--and more.
Fisman and Miguel use economics to get inside the heads of these "gangsters," and propose solutions that can make a difference to the world's poor--including cash infusions to defuse violence in times of drought, and steering the World Bank away from aid programs most susceptible to corruption.
Take an entertaining walk on the dark side of global economic development with Economic Gangsters.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.
In this surprisingly spry read, authors and economics professors Fisman and Miguel tackle economic development issues in Africa, Asia and Latin America, beginning with the question: after decades of independence and billions in foreign aid, why are so many developing countries still mired in poverty? A big reason, they contend, is corruption. Looking at specific examples, Fisman and Miguel examine various methods and motives of corruption, how agencies counteract it, and what it means with regard to human nature and the fate of nations. Fascinating insights abound: the high correlation between UN diplomats' parking violations and corruption in the home country; the successful public shaming techniques used by Bogata's Mayor Antanas Mockus to reduce criminality; the drastic reduction in road building corruption resulting from Indonesia's simple statement that projects would be audited. Ultimately, Fisman and Miguel conclude that there's not enough verifiable, reproducible results to say whether poverty is intractable and corruption inevitable, or whether poor countries remain poor because they haven't received enough quality aid. Instead, they argue forcefully for more blind trials in economics research to evaluate various development approaches. This thorough, thoughtful guide to global corruption is an engaging, disarmingly upbeat read for fans of Freakonomics and Malcolm Gladwell.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Lawrence Maxted - Library Journal
Economists Fisman and Miguel address the role of corruption and violence in impoverishing nations such as Kenya and Chad. They avoid academic jargon and write for a general audience in explaining how economists study the problem of pervasive endemic poverty. They relate specifically (indicative of their light approach) how, by studying the pattern of UN diplomatic parking violations in New York City, economists have estimated corruption in various countries. For example, diplomats from countries like Sweden and Canada had no violations while those from Chad and Sudan were egregious offenders. Fisman and Miguel look at violence as both a cause and an effect of poverty. They show that conflict risk in Africa increases from roughly 20 to 30 percent in drought years. To alleviate poverty best, they recommend experimentation with different policies such as crop insurance to find those methods that are effective in assisting the poor without enhancing conditions conducive to corruption and violence. Reminiscent of other lighter looks at economics, e.g., Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics and Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist, this book makes developmental economics both entertaining and accessible to a broad audience and is recommended to both public and academic libraries.
Table of Contents:
Ch. 1 Fighting For Economic Development 1
Ch. 2 Suharto, Inc 22
Ch. 3 The Smuggling Gap 53
Ch. 4 Nature or Nurture? Understanding the Culture of Corruption 76
Ch. 5 No Water, No Peace 111
Ch. 6 Death by a Thousand Small Cuts 136
Ch. 7 The Road Back From War 159
Ch. 8 Learning to Fight Economic Gangsters 186
Epilogue: Doing Better This Time 207
Notes 215
Index 235
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