Narconomics

“[Tom Wainwright] brings a fine and balanced analytical mind to some very good research. By looking at the drug trade as a business, Wainwright is able to reveal much about why it wreaks such havoc in Central and South America. Wainwright show[s] how drug violence is not so much senseless but the devastating result of economic calculations taken to their brutal extreme. [His] conclusion is titled ‘Why Economists Make the Best Police Officers.’ It is one of the pithiest and most persuasive arguments for drug law reform I have ever read.”—Misha Glenny, New York Times Sunday Book Review

“A lively and engaging book, informed by both dogged reporting and gleanings from academic research...”—Wall Street Journal

“A cracking read… both an extended black joke and a hard-headed analysis of the economics of getting high.”—Reuters

“An economics book for the Breaking Bad generation”—Times (London)

“Tom Wainwright of the Economist brings a fine and balanced analytical mind to some very good research”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Tom Wainwright has powerfully argued in favor of legalizing drugs. He says that the policies aimed at stifling the drug trade seem to be misdirected and have failed... a controversial but well‑argued book... a must‑read for everyone interested in solving the drug issue. Wainwright makes a lot of sense at a time when the world seems helpless against drug traffickers.”—Washington Book Review

“Readers interested in the intersection of crime, economics, entrepreneurship, and law enforcement will find this work fascinating.”—Library Journal