Naylor, R. T(homas) 1945–

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NAYLOR, R. T(homas) 1945–

PERSONAL: Born 1945. Education: Cambridge University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Economics, McGill University, Leacock Bldg., Rm. 443, 855 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T7, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, professor of economics. University of Toronto Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, senior fellow; York University Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, research associate.

WRITINGS:

The History of Canadian Business, 1867–1914, J. Lorimer (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1975, revised edition, Black Rose Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Dominion of Debt: Centre, Periphery and the International Economic Order, Black Rose Books (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1985.

Canada in the European Age, 1453–1919, New Star Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1987.

Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, Linden Press (New York, NY), 1987, 2nd edition, Black Rose Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Bankers, Bagmen, and Bandits: Business and Politics in the Age of Greed, Black Rose Books (New York, NY), 1990.

Patriots and Profiteers: On Economic Warfare, Embargo Busting, and State-Sponsored Crime, McClellan & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1999, published as Economic Warfare: Sanctions, Embargo Busting, and Their Human Cost, Northeastern University Press (Boston, MA), 2001.

Wages of Crime: Black Markets, Illegal Finance, and the Underworld Economy, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 2002, revised edition, 2004.

Crime, Law, and Social Change, senior editor and contributor.

SIDELIGHTS: Canadian-based economist R. Thomas Naylor has written a number of volumes on economic history and theory. His first, The History of Canadian Business, 1867–1914, is based on much original research and traces Canada's economic history from its colonial roots. Naylor covers financial institutions and the investment of capital, the development of Canadian railroads, patents and technology, and the country's expansion and development. In commenting on the book for Business History Review, Richard W. Pollay called it "an impressive work."

Naylor covers a broader time period in Canada in the European Age, 1453–1919, a study of the economic history of Canada in relation to concurrent European economic expansion. The book covers a time when Britain and France vied for the rich resources of Canada and when the United States was beginning to form a stronger relationship with its northern neighbor. Bryan D. Palmer wrote in American Historical Review that Naylor's "sweeping accounts … conform to no contemporary intellectual trend." Palmer went on to note, "Refreshingly sardonic and elegantly sarcastic, he writes with wit and unusual antagonism to the powerful."

Jane M. Wilson reviewed the second edition of Hot Money and the Politics of Debt in the Canadian Book Review Annual, noting that Naylor's "sardonic and fascinating exposé of financial black markets culminates in the international debt crisis of the mid-1980s that threatened the entire banking system." Naylor follows billions of dollars as they pass through the hands of drug traffickers, arms dealers, banks, governments and their intelligence agencies, tax evaders, the International Monetary Fund, and the Vatican. A Journal of Economic Literature contributor noted that Naylor makes the case that international debt and the "hot money" of his title "are two sides of the coin of peekaboo finance."

In Patriots and Profiteers: On Economic Warfare, Embargo Busting, and State-Sponsored Crime Naylor studies the profiteering taking place as far back as Elizabethan times. In Quill & Quire, Andrew Allentuck noted that the author "sees trade sanctions as gifts to gangsters who make money trading in goods that are otherwise unavailable," and added that "Naylor's research is authoritative and his conclusions startling." The book describes bribes made by firms in the U.S. military-industrial complex as well as black markets, both of which have profited from shortages after those with wealth and power took control of limited resources and economic opportunities not available to the lower and middle classes. Naylor comments that criminals sometimes become national heroes and that nations and empires have even been created from the profits of crime.

Naylor continues his study of global corruption in Wages of Crime: Black Markets, Illegal Finance, and the Underworld Economy, which focuses on wealthy, industrialized countries. In the wake of the post-September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Naylor contends, new, more restrictive laws that encroach on individual rights will not be effective in curtailing international crime. He theorizes that the publicized numbers summarizing the amount and movement of worldwide illegal capital are fabricated and that no one knows the actual details of the world's black-market economy. According to Naylor, such numbers are exaggerated to justify the expansion of the prison-industrial complex and law enforcement agencies that are inefficient and ineffective. In the book's introduction he writes: "Never in history has there been a black market tamed from the supply side. From Prohibition to prostitution, from gambling to recreational drugs, the story is the same. Supply-side controls act to encourage production and increase profits." Barron's contributor Neil Lipschutz wrote, "This wide-ranging, well-researched recent history of various illegal activities contains many anecdotes, on topics ranging from drug-running and gun-running to the underworld of gold."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Naylor, R. T., Wages of Crime: Black Markets, Illegal Finance, and the Underworld Economy, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, June, 1989, Bryan D. Palmer, review of Canada in the European Age, 1453–1919, pp. 901-902.

Barron's, May 6, 2002, Neil Lipschutz, review of Wages of Crime: Black Markets, Illegal Finance, and the Underworld Economy, p. 46.

Books in Canada, August, 1988, J. L. Granatstein, "The Sun Also Sets," review of Canada in the European Age, 1453–1919, p. 23.

Business History Review, autumn, 1976, Richard W. Pollay, review of The History of Canadian Business, 1867–1914, p. 409.

Canadian Book Review Annual, 1994, Jane W. Wilson, review of Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, p. 304.

Canadian Historical Review, March, 1986, Peter Wylie, review of Dominion of Debt: Centre, Periphery and the International Economic Order, p. 105; September, 1989, Donald G. Paterson, review of Canada in the European Age, 1453–1919, pp. 437-438.

Choice, February, 1977, review of The History of Canadian Business, 1867–1914, p. 1638; September, 1988, R. W. Winks, review of Canada in the European Age, 1453–1919, p. 208; December, 1994, A. R. Sanderson, review of Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, p. 649.

Ethics & International Affairs, October, 2002, Joy Gordon, "United States Economic Statecraft for Survival, 1933–1991: Of Sanctions and Strategic Embargoes," review of Economic Warfare: Sanctions, Embargo Busting, and Their Human Cost, p. 177.

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, winter-spring, 2003, Bard R. Ferrall, review of Wages of Crime, p. 821.

Journal of Economic Literature, March, 1995, review of Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, p. 323; December, 1997, review of The History of Canadian Business, 1867–1914, p. 2170.

Library Journal, April 1, 2002, Tim Delaney, review of Wages of Crime, p. 125.

Quill & Quire, April, 1987, H. S. Bhabra, "Shedding More Heat than Light on Money Scandals," review of Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, p. 31; June, 1999, Andrew Allentuck, review of Patriots and Profiteers: On Economic Warfare, Embargo Busting, and State-Sponsored Crime, p. 59.

Saturday Night, September, 1976, Robert Collison, "Canada Has Always Been a Client State," review of The History of Canadian Business, 1867–1914, p. 60.