Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel

An Amazon Best Book of February 2016: Chances are when you hear someone talking about the drug trade what comes to mind is an image from T.V. or the movies—seedy dealers, million-dollar busts, films like Traffic and shows like The Wire. In Narconomics, author Tom Wainwright looks at the drug business as…a business. And it’s fascinating. We already know how internet shopping has changed the way people buy and sell goods, but in the course of his research Wainwright learned that all manner of illegal drugs are increasingly being bought and sold online, too. Interesting, right? Just wait until you read how customer service and product quality have been impacted by this change… And this is just one of the many ways in which an economist’s view paints a very different picture than the one we’re used to seeing. Wainwright’s fresh look at a decades-old problem shows not only how the narcotics industry is run, but also how the “war on drugs” could be more effective if law enforcement started thinking about the drug business as just another corporate jungle. --Seira Wilson