Most Motovun potentates in the last couple of decades have their roots in the communist regime of former Yugoslavia. This is where their parents had built the foundations of their current wealth entirely by stealth. One question that pops up every now and then is how much they have managed to put into their own pockets since Croatian independence. As one of the former potentates has just been accused by the Istrian media of putting away a bit more than thirteen-thousand euros, I cannot but laugh. Every one of them is sure to boast at least ten times this much in swindled wealth, and especially in the form of real estate. This is the only sort of capital Croatians recognize, anyway. But what is their collective harm to Motovun, Istria, and Croatia as a whole? Having engaged in every kind of corruption and organized crime for more than two decades, they must have reduced the wealth of everyone around them by about a third, I reckon. And this is the sort of calculation that we need at this stage. The cost of malefactors cannot be reduced to their own gain. Without the communist crooks, Croatia could have been around a third wealthier. But where are the economists when one needs them?