Today in Grey Markets

News relating to grey or black markets. Any place where regulators and businesspeople decide to politely ignore one another.

Today in Grey Markets: German contract enforcement

May 17, 2012

From Solomon’s Knot, a new book about law and governance (via Alex Tabarrok’s review) …Unlike many developing countries, German legal doctrine and practice avoid this result. German regulatory violations seldom void contracts, and German prosecutors seldom act on regulatory violations revealed in a civil trial. Thus a gardener in the German gray market who does not pay taxes [...]

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Today in Grey markets: More Chinese casinos in Southeast Asia

March 23, 2012

These are always fun stories, and they always suffer from severe problems identifying the agents involved. In the most recent deal, the Cambodian government sold off more than 130 square miles of a national park to a Chinese developer, Tianjin Union Development Group, which promises “extravagant feasting and revelry” and has already cut a 40-mile [...]

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Today in Grey Markets: Chris Blattman

March 19, 2012

Chris Blattman requests underworld connections: My main research assistant had her bag snatched off her lap by a passing motorbike while riding a taxi to the airport in Uganda. Along with a laptop, she lost a passport and US work visa. All are replaceable, but sometimes these things are also… retrievable. If this were Liberia, [...]

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Man in China murdered over bootleg iPhone

March 9, 2012

Reporter learned from the police station, 29-year-old Feng had bought a fake Apple IPhone from a dealer in the street.  When he found out that the IPhone was fake he carried a kitchen knife with him to the plaza, and was looking for the crook seller in the 27 Plaza for several days. In the [...]

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Today in Grey Markets: Illegal fishing

March 9, 2012

After the murder of a Korean Coast Guard officer by a Chinese fisherman last year, Korea bolstered its response to illegal fishing, allowing officers to use their guns more actively during crackdowns. The Chinese asked the Koreans to suspend the use of guns, complaining through the press about Korea’s “violent” crackdown on illegal fishermen. The [...]

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Today in Grey Markets: iPhone smuggling

March 6, 2012

From Mashable: The Shenzhen Port in China finds iPhones in odd places when people walk through customs. In the video, you will notice one man who attempted to walk through customs with 30 iPhones strapped to his waist and ankles. It’s fairly common for smugglers to wedge iPhones in their shoes or to sew extra [...]

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Today in Grey Markets: Piratical checks and balances

December 5, 2011

Old article, but new to me: This article investigates the internal governance institutions of violent criminal enterprise by examining the law, economics, and organization of pirates. To effectively organize their banditry, pirates required mechanisms to prevent internal predation, minimize crew conflict, and maximize piratical profit. Pirates devised two institutions for this purpose. First, I analyze the system of piratical [...]

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Today in Grey markets: Prostitute reality TV

July 25, 2011

Via Wronging Rights: BBC News reported last week that a Zambian television network “has launched a reality show to help former prostitutes find husbands.” Apparently, “helping” means competing 18 sex workers against each other at a battery of household chores while viewers vote on who will win a cash prize and an all-expenses-paid wedding. “Are you a [...]

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Today in Grey Markets: Illegal Chinese mining in Ghana

June 15, 2011

Henry Hall is right on with his conclusions here: Informal mining has a long history in Ghana, and historically was a very amateur process. Gradually the demand for heavy machinery has brought Chinese players into the market who have financed these small but highly organised operations. It is important to note that these operations are [...]

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Today in Grey markets: counterfeit beverages

June 6, 2011

From the Chinese press (Chinese), a man and wife couple was fined RMB 5 million for setting up a factory in Tangshan to produce their own branded drinks by day, and “counterfeit drinks” by night. Each six-pack of counterfeit drinks went for roughly RmB 8 less than the real coke or sprite that it was [...]

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