<description>In 2012, Karam Shaar had to leave his home country of Syria due to the civil war. But he still wanted to make a difference. Through his &lt;a href="https://www.karamshaar.com/"&gt;economic analysis&lt;/a&gt;, he uncovered concerning patterns about how the Assad regime and its cronies were siphoning money from humanitarian aid. Today on the show, the story of how one Syrian exile contributed to the resistance while on the other side of the world. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related episodes: &lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;The cost of a dollar in Ukraine (&lt;a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indicator-from-planet-money/id1320118593?i=1000606662182"&gt;Apple&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2bfBG0MJqtS7Ttx0GA161h?si=e5309edbccd0464e"&gt;Spotify&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://plus.npr.org/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;plus.npr.org&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Music by &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://dropelectric.bandcamp.com/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drop Electric&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. Find us: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@planetmoney"&gt;&lt;em&gt;TikTok&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/planetmoney/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Instagram&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/planetmoney"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Facebook&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/money"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Newsletter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

An economist's role in the fall of Syria's government

DEC 12, 20249 MIN
The Indicator from Planet Money

An economist's role in the fall of Syria's government

DEC 12, 20249 MIN

Description

In 2012, Karam Shaar had to leave his home country of Syria due to the civil war. But he still wanted to make a difference. Through his economic analysis, he uncovered concerning patterns about how the Assad regime and its cronies were siphoning money from humanitarian aid. Today on the show, the story of how one Syrian exile contributed to the resistance while on the other side of the world.

Related episodes:
The cost of a dollar in Ukraine (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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