The illicit global economy encompasses cross-border flows of goods, people, money, and information unauthorized by either the sending or receiving country. Typically, this means flows that are prohibited, regulated, stolen, or counterfeit. Some of these flows are obscure or mostly a law enforcement nuisance, but others receive enormous policy and media attention. Still others have severe environmental impacts and security implications. Collectively, these flows reflect the illicit side of the global economy.

The Illicit Global Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® answers the key questions about how illicit global markets are structured and operate, how they intersect with state institutions and practices, how they interact with the legal economy, and how they shape and are shaped by domestic and international politics. This pithy yet authoritative primer helps listeners make sense of a crucial part of the global economy that is too often either neglected or distorted. In this regard, an underlying theme in the book is the need for a more historically informed critical perspective that challenges the many myths and misconceptions about the illicit global economy that are all-too-prevalent in contemporary media accounts, Hollywood depictions, popular books, and policy debates.