While Suharto was stealing all

While Suharto was stealing all his money, Indonesia was growing lickety-split

I posted Transparency International's list of top kleptocrats below. Suharto of Indonesia leads the list, allegedly stealing something between $15 and $35 billion. But I also note that Indonesia grew quite a bit under his regime. Indonesia was one of four ASEAN countries that doubled real income per person between 1980 and 1995. (Michael Sarel, Growth and Productivity in ASEAN countries, IMF working paper, 1997).

I'm not familiar with the details of the Indonesia economy during this period, but I wonder if Suharto is an example of one of Mancur Olson's predatory, rent maximizing, 'warlords' ("Creating the wealth of nations") adopting policies that increase the wealth of the nation, in order to increase his take. It's more lucrative to steal from the rich than from the poor.