2. Stanley Ho - the Macau gambling magnate got his start collaborating with the Japanese who had occupied China.
His original business was a monopoly guaranteed by the Macau government which traded anything Macau made for food, fuel and essentials from Japan controlled China
Conversation
(Singapore too had its fair share of billionaires who made their money collaborating with the brutal Japanese occupiers - Lee Kong China is probably the most famous of them. Also fun fact: Lee Kong Chian is billionaire-turned communist funder Tan Kah Kee's son in law)
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3. Li Ka-Shing is my favourite in this because his PR is so good. People think of him as “hardworking old man with a frugal lifestyle” when he is actually “evil monopolist who made his money fleecing consumers”.
A few examples of Li's business tactics below
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Hong Kong's original sin has been land policy: the government sells/leases land to fund general revenues. If you want to build on land not zoned for construction, you've to pay a heavy conversion fee. Naturally only large developers can pay that fee - leading to an oligopoly.
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Li's business has made exceptional money off this, just like every other property developer. The lowest return per transaction (even after the fee) was 77%, and the highest was 364%!
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Li's other core business is shipping. He owns 14/24 berths in Hong Kong's port - with the concentration leading to the highest port handling fees in the developed world. (In 2019 the port operators formalized a suspected cartel with over 95% of the market)
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The moral of the story? I think for businesses it is that you can fall into traps of relying on regulatory barriers and one day you'll be shocked pikachu face.
For policymakers it's avoiding the doom loop where extractive policies are in the interests of both govts and business
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I’ve not finished Studwell’s book but I find his thesis broadly compelling. I think you should get Studwell on the podcast, not me ;)