Steven D. Levitt on Gang Economics

I'm kicking off a World Economics Series, with lectures and maybe even book reviews of the economists that have important things to say, or in some cases, who are influencing our view of politics and economy and world affairs.

I'll start with a funny one, that provokes thought about local economics. It is also a study of gang economics, previously posted at Ann T. Hathaway.
This is Steven Levitt,  author of Freakonomics and Super-Freakonomics. He talks about the local aspect of international drug trade. By explaining it as a business, he also shows us just exactly what barriers we face. He also maybe missed a few.
The video, like many I am contemplating, is produced by TED.com. I hope you enjoy.

I am not always a fan of the Freakonomics blog, but other times I think they have a great thing going.

Mr. Levitt and Mr. Dubner also have a Freakonomics Web site, with Study Guides to their books.
The Freakonomics books are readily available.

Sudhir Ventakesh is the graduate student Mr. Levitt refers to as doing the field work. He has also written extensively, and I will feature him in another post.