Eclectic Anecdotes

In his extensively documented book, The Jewish Century, New Edition, Yuri Slezkine lists in great detail the disproportionate success of Jews in nineteenth-century Russia in the economic sphere. Whether it be banking, financing, railroads, or the oil industry, Jews were able to excel in these business areas, even while being treated as strangers to the Russian populace. As for how they were able to do so, Slezkine writes:

Jewish enterprises tended to find more uses for by-products, produce a greater assortment of goods, and reach wider markets at lower prices than their competitors. Building on previous experience and superior training, utilizing preexisting “ethnic” connections and cheap family labor, accustomed to operating on low profit margins, and spurred on by (sometimes negotiable) legal restrictions, they were—as elsewhere—better at being “Jewish” than most of their new-minted and still somewhat reluctant competitors. In purely economic terms, their most effective strategy was “vertical integration,” whereby Jewish firms “fed” each other within a particular line, sometimes covering the entire spectrum from the manufacturer to the consumer. Jewish craftsmen produced for Jewish industrialists, who sold to Jewish purchasing agents, who worked for Jewish wholesalers, who distributed to Jewish retail outlets, who employed Jewish traveling salesmen (the latter practice was introduced in the sugar industry by “Brodsky himself”).[1]

In other words, usury and ethnic nepotism is the simple formula for how Jews as a whole acquired great wealth. This practice can be seen in any country with a sizable Jewish population, particularly evident in the West. By feeling like “others” among their neighbors wherever they may live, fellow Jews are seen as extended families, and naturally gravitate towards each other, not only in social relationships, but business relationships as well. There are always exceptions, such as Bernie Madoff, who swindled other Jews to fund his Ponzi scheme, but overall Jewish business networks have been the primary factor for Jewish wealth. Coupled with underselling the competition and poor wages, Jewish businesses have risen above businesses whose management is dominated by gentiles.

This was observed in antiquity by Tacitus, who said “other reasons for their increasing wealth may be found in their stubborn loyalty and ready benevolence towards brother Jews. But the rest of the world they confront with the hatred reserved for enemies.”[2]

[1] Slezkine, Yuri. The Jewish Century, New Edition (pp. 122-123). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.

[2] https://www.livius.org/sources/content/tacitus/tacitus-on-the-jews/