Dark Commerce: How a New Illicit Economy Is Threatening Our Future

by Louise I. Shelley

A comprehensive look at the world of illicit trade

Though mankind has traded tangible goods for millennia, recent technology has changed the fundamentals of trade, in both legitimate and illegal economies. In the past three decades, the most advanced forms of illicit trade have broken with all historical precedents and, as Dark Commerce shows, now operate as if on steroids, tied to computers and social media. In this new world of illicit commerce, which benefits states and diverse participants, trade is impersonal and anonymized, and vast profits are made in short periods with limited accountability to sellers, intermediaries, and purchasers.

Louise Shelley examines how new technology, communications, and globalization fuel the exponential growth of dangerous forms of illegal trade―the markets for narcotics and child pornography online, the escalation of sex trafficking through web advertisements, and the sale of endangered species for which revenues total in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The illicit economy exacerbates many of the world’s destabilizing phenomena: the perpetuation of conflicts, the proliferation of arms and weapons of mass destruction, and environmental degradation and extinction. Shelley explores illicit trade in tangible goods―drugs, human beings, arms, wildlife and timber, fish, antiquities, and ubiquitous counterfeits―and contrasts this with the damaging trade in cyberspace, where intangible commodities cost consumers and organizations billions as they lose identities, bank accounts, access to computer data, and intellectual property.

Demonstrating that illicit trade is a business the global community cannot afford to ignore and must work together to address, Dark Commerce considers diverse ways of responding to this increasing challenge.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Business, History, Environment

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Gisselle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. Given the author’s background (George Mason University professor), it was a fairly even handed treatment of all types of illicit trade. The focus on “all types” is what brought the score down to a 3.5 for me - Dr. Shelley writes about animal trade and raw natural resources in a really engaging manner, connecting dots that I had always wondered about, and those parts alone would have been a 5. Other parts did not hold my interest as much and with the conclusion of the book seemingly focused on the death of the natural world, it appeared as if she knew this was the strongest appeal to the reader as well. Decent read for someone who doesn’t know anything about the subject or who is interested in the environmental aspect.

[SeaShore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book loaded with information on the history of illicit trade.
Such terms as fencing and antiquities are explained in context.
She discusses how trade has changed both legally and illegally through the use of computers and social media. People pay bills, shop online and the ordinary citizen seeks out ways to prevent identity theft, stolen passwords and money stolen from their bank accounts.
At present, environmental crime occurs because of a growing global population. People are concerned about depleting the world's resources.

She defines both illicit and illegal trade. But in the end even suggests a possibility of casting aside the word, 'illicit'.

She has many resources listed and has interviews and talks/lectures/discussions on the Web.

[Steven Bragg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads more like an overview of how illicit commerce functions than an in-depth treatment of the subject. This approach may be worthwhile, as her references are massive, and would require several times the length of the book to provide detailed coverage of the topic. Still, you tend to bounce along from concept to concept rather quickly.

[Jonathan Cantor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid primer on the economics of crime. Though I really disliked the structure of the book. Read disjointed.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have used more specific examples. Appeared to be more of a summary of a research paper with same wooden writing style. The book could have been so much more

[Anna Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of illicit commerce structures, but not particularly compelling or well-organized.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well-researched and thorough, but a somewhat dense read that I wish was written for a more general audience. Still highly recommend and provided tremendous insight into criminal economics as a phenomenon.

[Fick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shaper my perspective on the complexity of the global illicit economy and how it can no longer be totally separated from the licit economy.

[Ola Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly written and insightful. Highly recommend!

[Mark Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting topic with a lot of information. Not particularly well written.

[Kyra]

For school

[Cole Patten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lot of interesting anecdotes, but largely fails to intelligently tie any ideas together until the last chapter.