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crony capitalism

American  
[kroh-nee kap-i-tl-iz-uhm] / ˈkroʊ ni ˈkæp ɪ tlˌɪz əm /

noun

  1. an economic system in which success in business is obtained through relationships to people in political power rather than through competition.

    The fact that only a few well-connected developers can get projects approved does seem like the sort of favoritism inherent in crony capitalism.


Etymology

Origin of crony capitalism

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

These include "the risk of crony capitalism, i.e., political connections and inefficient project allocations, related party transactions within their byzantine corporate organisation charts", taking on excess debt to fund their expansion and preventing competitors from entering the market.

From BBC

In 2007, the writer and artist Magdy El Shafee published what many consider the first Egyptian one: “Metro,” a Cairo-set noir about a broke young computer programmer driven to rob a bank in a megalopolis plagued by crony capitalism and unfreedom.

From Washington Post

Anders Aslund, a leading expert on Russia who has written about crony capitalism under Putin, said Alekperov’s strategy to make Lukoil a global oil company, with projects in Mexico, Iraq, Eastern Europe and Africa, has given it a complicated corporate structure.

From Washington Post

Anders Aslund, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the author of the 2019 book “Russia’s Crony Capitalism,” pegged the Russian president’s wealth at about $125 billion.

From Seattle Times

“Technically it’s successful,” said Minxin Pei, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and author of “China’s Crony Capitalism.”

From New York Times