Loretta Napoleoni

Once it was easy to know where our money was going. Now we live under a system Loretta Napoleoni has dubbed "rogue economics," where the blurry histories of the products we consume and the cash we invest make us complicit in financing barely legal credit schemes -- and even crime, if it's the slavery producing the beans for our lattes or the guts of our mobile phones.

Napoleoni, a renowned Italian economist, author, and journalist, explores the newly global market's reach and its connection to murky financial activities in her book "Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality". This book, along with her other works including "Maonomics", "Terror Incorporated" and "Insurgent Iraq", positions her as a leading thinker on the economic impact of terrorism and criminal economies. She frequently shares her expertise as a commentator on CNN, Sky, and the BBC and is a sought-after columnist for European financial papers such as El Pais, The Guardian, and Le Monde.

Napoleoni not only writes and speaks on these critical issues but also actively advises various governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism and strategies to combat money laundering. She serves as Chairman of the countering terrorism financing group for the Club de Madrid and is a regular lecturer at institutions worldwide, including Judge Business Schools at Cambridge. Her insights into the financial underpinnings of global crises, informed by interviews with the Red Brigades in the 1990s and followers of al Zarqawi in 2003, underline her comprehensive understanding of the complexities of global economics and terrorism.