“A lot of my questions are both economic and legal questions,” explained Dr. Smoki Musaraj, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and one of the newest faculty members of the Center for Law, Justice & Culture.
New CLJC Faculty Member Smoki Musaraj studies informal economies and speculative bubbles in post-socialist Albania.
Musaraj researches informal practices and economies in post-socialist contexts, specifically in her home country of Albania. Growing up under socialism and the transition to capitalism inspired her research, she said.
A large part of Musaraj’s research centers on how formal and informal economies operate alongside one another to cause speculative bubbles. Informal economies are those that exist outside of state control and instead function within the logic of particular communities.
For example, the pyramid schemes of the early ’90s in Albania were seen as legitimate by the diverse numbers of people who participated in them – even having contracts between investors. Musaraj’s dissertation explored how changes in financial regulation and infrastructure in the post-socialist transition and the gaps these changes created enabled pyramid schemes to flourish.
In another example, a recent construction boom in Albania was financed not through banks but rather through barter and exchange with informal, oral contracts between the parties involved. She said she looks at how that relates to an impending economic bust and how these informal and formal credit mechanisms have made that boom and bust possible.
Musaraj examines the societal frameworks – both formal-legal and informal – that make schemes like these legal and legitimate rather than considering them as informal economies.
“I’m not saying people don’t know how markets work or have panic and mania, but rather I see bubbles as a product of a particular economic regime,” she explained.
The dual nature of her research has opened doors for Musaraj that might not have otherwise been accessible. Last year she was invited by the Financial Services Volunteer Corps to be a volunteer expert on a study of financial inclusion in Albania, in partnership with the Bank of Albania. The country is in the process of reforming to match the standards of the European Union, as it hopes to become a member. Musaraj had the opportunity to submit a report about banking regulations to the bank, based on her years of research on this topic.
“An anthropologist making that kind of recommendation is unusual,” she reflected. “Usually it would be someone in a bank doing that. In a sense I was bringing economic and legal anthropology to make a policy assessment and recommendation.”
Musaraj began teaching at Ohio University in fall 2014, but this semester she has the opportunity to teach one of her favorite classes: economic anthropology.
“It’s great to be able to teach some of my favorite books to a community of students who also seem really excited about it,” she said with a smile.
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