ABSTRACT
The Russian Mafia is conventional wisdom that "mafyia" extortion and official corruption of every sort are inflicting much damage on the Russian economy. The political threat is real enough, but in purely economic terms the conventional wisdom is all wrong. To begin with, it overlooks the natural evolution of the capitalist animal. Inevitably, thieves and final consumers could only be brought together by a functioning illegal market, which in turn could only be operated by criminals who were sufficiently organized to do the job, namely the Mafia. In one crucial respect organized crime remains a very beneficial force: it is the only counterweight to the great number of firms, backed by corrupt officials, which engage in ruthless monopolistic practices. Russia acquires a functioning system of commercial law, administrative and fiscal courts that can actually protect citizens from the exactions of arbitrary, corrupt government officials, and even anti-monopoly safeguards.
