Defense contractors are able to reap tremendous profits while rarely confronting the risks for which those profits are supposed to be the reward.

Of course, plenty of people don't think that guaranteeing affordable health insurance is a core responsibility of government.

Until the nineteen-seventies, Western countries paid little attention to corruption overseas, and bribery was seen as an unpleasant but necessary part of doing business there. In some European countries, businesses were even allowed to deduct bribes as an expense.

In industries where a lot of competitors are selling the same product - mangoes, gasoline, DVD players - price is the easiest way to distinguish yourself. The hope is that if you cut prices enough you can increase your market share, and even your profits. But this works only if your competitors won't, or can't, follow suit.

Patrimonial capitalism's legacy is that many people see reform as a euphemism for corruption and self-dealing.

Companies, like people, don't much like to change.

I tend to delay writing by doing more research - it's really the act of writing the piece that I have the hardest time with.