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

White, black and Latino; union and non-union; evangelical and secular; immigrant and native-born — all focused on ending big money in politics, stopping corporate welfare and crony capitalism, busting up monopolies and stopping voter suppression.

From Salon • Jul. 11, 2019

Yet, despite maintaining a presence in space, Roscosmos has been beset with corruption, mismanagement, and crony capitalism that is the hallmark of the larger post-Soviet economy.

From Slate • Mar. 21, 2017

For him, the gesture comported with the dignity of his office, but to his detractors, it recalled the kind of crony capitalism that Liberland had been invented to circumvent.

From New York Times • Aug. 11, 2015

But to most Russians, Berezovsky epitomised the worst excesses of the crony capitalism that, after the collapse of communism, reduced Russia in the 1990s to an impotent basket case and impoverished its people.

From The Guardian • Mar. 24, 2013

Needham became closely attuned to the issues of crony capitalism while studying at Stanford University’s business school in 2008 and 2009.

From Washington Post