Alittle knowledge can be a dangerous thing. In the law school class that I teach on white-collar offences, some students view the class as a "how to" course. My aim is not to give tips about how to dodge taxes, insider trade or launder money. But the skills that students need to represent clients, prosecute criminals or improve government policy are the same as those needed to flout the law.

Two excellent new books on money laundering impart a lot of knowledge, and might suffer the same paradoxical fate. The authors explore how corrupt government and corporate officials, as well as terrorists, exploit loopholes to move dirty money around the world. These books might motivate much-needed reforms. But it is just as likely, and perhaps inevitable, that they will become training manuals for budding money launderers.