In a sense it the state picking favorites in the market place and handing over cash to help them and to harm its competitors.
The first time I heard the term used was relating to the Marcos regime in RP. (Early 70’s).
Marcos’s buddies were referred to as Cronies and they were favored with bank loans that were guaranteed by the government for various projects which were usually inflated generating immediate returns to a Swiss bank account. The same type of transactions and Crony Capitalism infected other SE Asian countries after they found out how easy it was to borrow from Western Banks with a government guarantee.
The same technique has been used to fund many of the so called “green” development in the West. Same bad and corrupt results.