ILLICIT: HOW SMUGGLERS, TRAFFICKERS AND COPYCATS ARE HIJACKING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.
Moises Naim.

The Transdniester Moldovan Republic doesn't have a great deal to recommend itself. It's a small, breakaway region of a former Soviet state that doesn't feature in even the most intrepid of travel guides.

If, however, you're an international arms dealer sourcing the grenades, machine guns and rocket launchers for your latest African civil war shipment, Transdniester is your Tesco.

As Naim documents, the global black economy has done well from globalization. Just as Western companies took legitimate and legal advantage of the collapse of barriers to trade and the movement of money and people around the world during the late 20th century, illegal operators weren't often far behind and were frequently miles ahead.

Guns, drugs, slaves, stolen art, fake pharmaceuticals, human organs, counterfeit technology and, really, pretty much anything illegal anyone wants, it's all more available now than ever, and almost anywhere, and the consequences are terrifying.

Given the difficulties of describing such a vast, complicated system, it's to the author's credit that Illicit prefers the eye-boggling example to the heavy statistic. Naim's work wears its credentials lightly but deserves very close attention.

Jack Doyle