Review of Tom Wainwright’s Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel

Abstract

Tom Wainwright provides a compelling account about the economics behind the illicit drug trade in Latin America that reconciles free market solutions with state regulation. While Wainwright is generally correct in his free market prescriptions and criticisms of short-sighted government thrift, an explicitly statist approach focused on better governance, stronger state capacity, and robust state regulatory control over new markets would have strengthened and clarified his argument.