Diego Gambetta

"Suicide attacks are a defining act of political violence and an extraordinary social phenomenon. This book investigates the organizers of suicide missions and the perpetrators alike"--Provided by publisher.

Blood ceremonies, obscure symbols, elaborate codes, brutal executions: the arcane remnants of a defunct culture? The Mafia, this book suggests, is not nearly as bizarre as all that, not nearly as remote as we might think. In fact, as Diego Gambetta's analysis unfolds, the Mafia begins to resemble any other business. In a society where trust is in short supply, this business sells protection, a guarantee of safe conduct for commercial and social transactions. It grudgingly shares the market with other concerns like itself, of which it is merely the most successful. The author develops his elegant economic theory with ample evidence, much of it based on the remarkable work done by Judge Giovanni Falcone and his colleagues in Palermo and Agrigento in the 1980s. Drawing on the confessions of eight Mafiosi and the trials their revelations triggered, Gambetta is able to explain all manner of peculiar Mafia marketing strategies that have been endlessly misinterpreted in the past. He makes illuminating - and unexpected - comparisons between the business of protection and ordinary industries, such as automotive insurance, and advertising. And he teases out the subtle distinctions between protection and extortion, in which the protector himself poses a threat. This new approach reshapes traditional interpretations of the Mafia - its origins, functions, and social consequences. Applying informal economic analysis, Gambetta shows how such a recognized evil can perform a real service, and how such a recognizable service can inflict great harm on a society.

Streetwise brings together classic articles from the publication that helped revolutionize the way Wall Street does business. During the recession of the early 1970s, investment professionals turned to the theories of a small band of mathematical economists, whose ideas on such topics as portfolio development and risk management eventually led to the reform and maintenance of entire economies. This was the first time economists and practitioners had joined forces to such remarkable effect. Economist and money manager Peter Bernstein sought to encourage this exchange when, in 1974, he founded The Journal of Portfolio Management (JPM). For this present volume, Bernstein and JPM editor Frank Fabozzi have selected forty-one of the most influential articles to appear in the journal over the past twenty-five years, some of them written by Nobel laureates and all aimed at stimulating dialogue between academic economists wishing to understand the real-world problems of finance and investment professionals wanting to bring the most advanced theoretical work to bear on commerce.