Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy.

Cronyism exists when the appointer and the beneficiary are in social contact; often, the appointer is inadequate to hold his or her own job or position of authority, and for this reason the appointer appoints individuals who will not try to weaken him or her, or express views contrary to those of the appointer. Politically, "cronyism" is derogatorily used.

The word "crony" first appeared in 18th century London, according to the Oxford English Dictionary to be derived from the Greek word χρόνιος (chronios), meaning "long-term".

The word crony also appears in the 1811 edition of Grose's Vulgar Tongue with a decidedly non-collegiate definition, placing it firmly in the cant of the underworld. Another oft-quoted source is the supposed Irish term Comh-Roghna [koˈronə], said to translate as "close pals", or mutual friends. However, this term apparently originated with Daniel Cassidy (fabricator of many fake Irish terms) and is completely unknown in the Irish language. (See Ó Dónaill's Irish-English Dictionary p. 288, where the term is conspicuously absent). It also makes no sense in terms of the morphology of the word rogha - if the word existed, the plural would be comhroghanna, not comh-roghna.

Eric O'Keefe (born March 11, 1961) is an American author, editor, and journalist based in Texas. His most recent book is The Cup, and he currently serves as the editor-in-chief of The Land Report.

Born in Paris, the youngest of seven children to Arthur and Julia O'Keefe, O'Keefe is a graduate of Alpine High School (Alpine, Texas) and Rice University. Upon receiving his bachelor's degree in History and Political Science, O'Keefe was awarded an LBJ Fellowship by House Minority Whip Tom Loeffler (TX-21) and worked in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 99th Congress.

The author or co-author of seven non-fiction works, O'Keefe's The Cup (2009) is the story of Damien Oliver's dramatic victory on Media Puzzle in the world's richest and most prestigious two-mile handicap, the Melbourne Cup. The week before the race, Damien's only brother, Jason, died following a track accident in Perth while riding an unraced horse at Ascot Racecourse. The tragedy bore a haunting similarity to the death of their father, Ray Oliver, who died in 1975 after a racing fall in the Boulder Cup in Kalgoorlie. Damien's decision to honor his brother by returning and competing in Australia's greatest race culminated in Media Puzzle's emotion-charged victory, which has been rated one of the memorable moments in Australian sports history. The chestnut gelding was bred in the U.S. by Walter Haefner's Moyglare Stud and trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld for owners Donald Keough and Michael Smurfit. O'Keefe traveled to Australia, Dubai, and Ireland to research The Cup, which was published in Australia by Slattery Media and launched in the Committee Room at Flemington Racecourse on August 4, 2009.

Jeb Hensarling (born May 29, 1957) has been the Republican congressman representing Texas' 5th congressional district (map) in the United States House of Representatives since 2003.

Hensarling was born in Stephenville, the seat of Erath County, and grew up on the family farm in College Station. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 1982, he earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is also an Eagle Scout.

Prior to serving in Congress, Hensarling was State Director for Texas Senator Phil Gramm from 1985 until 1989. From 1991 to 1993, he served as executive director of the Republican Senatorial Committee.

Hensarling next served as a vice president at two different companies before becoming owner of San Jacinto Ventures in 1996 and CEO of Family Support Assurance Corporation in 2001. He served as vice president of Green Mountain Energy from 1999 to 2001.

Hensarling was elected to his first term in 2002, defeating Democratic opponent Ron Chapman with 58 percent of the vote. He was reelected in 2004 with 64 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Bill Bernstein.

Clifford Scott 'Cliff' Asness (born October 17, 1966) is the cofounder of AQR capital (top US hedge Fund) and a quantitative financial theorist.

After graduating with dual degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Cliff Asness entered the finance PhD program at the University of Chicago and became the research assistant to Eugene Fama, the influential efficient market theorist and empiricist. Asness' dissertation, however, showed that consistent market-beating profits were attainable by exploiting value and momentum. In this context, value means using fundamental analysis to assess the true worth of a security and momentum means betting that it will continue to go up or down as it has in the recent past. Neither idea is original with Asness, but he was the first to compile enough empirical evidence across a wide variety of markets to bring the ideas into the academic financial mainstream. The two ideas are supposed to work together. Value investors make money, but may have to wait a very long time for it, with a lot of mark-to-market pain along the way. Momentum investors also make money, but can suffer huge drawdowns when bubbles pop. Buying cheap things after they have already started going up, and selling expensive things after they have already started going down, can be the best of both worlds. However, the strategy for accumulation is subject to the same constraints as any other and systemic effects in markets can invalidate it: AQR and other similar ventures lost massive amounts of wealth in the Financial crisis of 2007-2010.