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When the US outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, it inadvertently created one of the most successful black markets in the world. Tim Harford considers how much it costs to make something illegal, and what a failed law reveals about the way criminals make their money.

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10 minutes

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Mon 7 Oct 2019 03:50GMT
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Two men pouring alcohol down a drain during prohibition in the US (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Sources

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition Daniel Okrent 2010, Simon and Schuster

Fortune Tellers: The Story of a Amercia's First Economic Forecasters Walter A. Friedman, Princeton University

The Economics of Prohibition Mark Thornton 1991, University of Utah Press

the War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State Lisa McGirr 2005, W. W. Norton

Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach Gary S. Becker 1974. NBER

The Slow Death of Prohibition - 麻豆官网首页入口

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  • Sat 5 Oct 2019 04:50GMT
    麻豆官网首页入口 World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
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