The Global Diamond Industry: Economics and Development Volume II is a compilation of papers that explore the shifting patterns of the diamond industry and the issues affecting southern African development. The editors are both leading academics specializing in development in the region: Grynberg a professor of economics at the University of Namibia and Mbayi a research fellow at the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis.
The first of the book’s two sections deals with the changing social aspects of the industry. Diamond manufacturing, once concentrated in a few centers (Antwerp, Gujarat, Tel Aviv, and New York), is now global and more culturally diverse, with Africans and Chinese widely engaged in the process. The opening paper, by Karin Hofmeester, offers a historical view, while the next, by Barak Richman, describes New York’s Jewish diamond community. The final paper in this section, by Sebastian Henn, describes how the industry shifted to India and then continued to diversify.
The second, much larger section analyzes various factors of development. A paper by former De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer addresses the “resource curse”—that valuable resources lead to corruption and conflict—by showing how diamonds have benefited Botswana and helped create a stable, prosperous nation. J. Andrew Grant describes the strengths and shortcomings of the Kimberley Process (misspelled “Kimberly” in the text), while Samuel Spiegel analyzes how Zimbabwe’s human rights violations at the Marange diamond deposits put the Kimberley Process into a crisis. Mbayi’s analysis of Botswana’s diamond cutting industry describes the skills transfers that are necessary to make such activities economic, and a paper by GIA’s Jim Shigley and another by Grynberg examine the challenges brought by treatments and synthetics.
The volume, while certainly not exhaustive on any of the topics it addresses, offers a balanced cross-section of the development issues facing the diamond industry today. However, there is very little about the changing economics of the diamond industry—the multichannel rough market, competitive auctions, and the changing role of banks, to name a few—that ultimately have the greatest effect on its development.
About the Reviewer
Russell Shor is senior industry analyst at GIA in Carlsbad, California.
The Global Diamond Industry: Economics and Development Volume II is a compilation of papers that explore the shifting patterns of the diamond industry and the issues affecting southern African development. The editors are both leading academics specializing in development in the region: Grynberg a professor of economics at the University of Namibia and Mbayi a research fellow at the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis.
The first of the book’s two sections deals with the changing social aspects of the industry. Diamond manufacturing, once concentrated in a few centers (Antwerp, Gujarat, Tel Aviv, and New York), is now global and more culturally diverse, with Africans and Chinese widely engaged in the process. The opening paper, by Karin Hofmeester, offers a historical view, while the next, by Barak Richman, describes New York’s Jewish diamond community. The final paper in this section, by Sebastian Henn, describes how the industry shifted to India and then continued to diversify.
The second, much larger section analyzes various factors of development. A paper by former De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer addresses the “resource curse”—that valuable resources lead to corruption and conflict—by showing how diamonds have benefited Botswana and helped create a stable, prosperous nation. J. Andrew Grant describes the strengths and shortcomings of the Kimberley Process (misspelled “Kimberly” in the text), while Samuel Spiegel analyzes how Zimbabwe’s human rights violations at the Marange diamond deposits put the Kimberley Process into a crisis. Mbayi’s analysis of Botswana’s diamond cutting industry describes the skills transfers that are necessary to make such activities economic, and a paper by GIA’s Jim Shigley and another by Grynberg examine the challenges brought by treatments and synthetics.
The volume, while certainly not exhaustive on any of the topics it addresses, offers a balanced cross-section of the development issues facing the diamond industry today. However, there is very little about the changing economics of the diamond industry—the multichannel rough market, competitive auctions, and the changing role of banks, to name a few—that ultimately have the greatest effect on its development.
About the Reviewer
Russell Shor is senior industry analyst at GIA in Carlsbad, California.
