What are the economic characteristics of the countries of the top ten kleptocrats (see Ben Muse March 26th post, and Marginal Revolution).
The most definitive cross-section of national economic data is the Penn World Tables. How does it match up with the top 9 technocrats (this source does not contain data for Serbia).
1) All 9 countries rate as less open to international trade than the U.S.
2) Seven of them have a larger share of GDP devoted to government than the U.S. (and the other two are close).
Of course, its common knowledge that most countries with kleptocracies are poor, so we need a metric for measuring poorness. Most Americans are familiar with Mexico, so lets use that.
3) Seven of the nine countries are poorer (in per capita terms) than Mexico.
Kleptocracies are usually regarded as a phenomenon of small countries that are easily dominated by the few. Again, we need a metric, so lets choose American states.
4) Nine out of nine of the kleptocracies have a population that would get them 7 or more electoral votes if they were states (about the size of Kansas or Mississippi).
Obvious wealth isn't the problem either:
5) Only 2 out of 9 have substantial oil wealth, and only 1 has nukes that could be sold for cash.
Lastly, a considerable amount has been written about the poor institutions in many developing countries being relation to their former colonizer. Running down the list, there is not as much pattern as you would think: 4 former Spanish colonies, then 1 Dutch, 1 Belgian, 1 English, 1 French, and 1 Russian.
See my earlier post on Haiti for related information.