The underground economy, shadow economy, black economy, or black market
consists of all commerce on which applicable taxes are being evaded. The
market includes not only legally-prohibited commerce (for example, drugs,
prostitution, and gambling activities that are illegal in some locales), but
also trade in legal goods and services because some income is not reported
and consequently taxation is evaded, e.g., through money laundering, payment
in cash (which can almost never be traced), or other means.
The underground economy also includes transactions that governments may
allow to be free of taxation, either by legal sanction or by simply choosing
to refrain from enforcement of tax laws in certain markets. The term
underground economy typically is not used to refer to trade in stolen goods,
which is also given the name "black market".
Underground economy transactions are typically cash transactions to evade
traceability by governments or complex financial operations involving the
use of multiple subsidiaries and tax havens.
The Clearstream scandal is an example of such tax evasion. Based in
Luxembourg, Clearstream practices financial clearing, which means it
centralizes operations of multiple banks, some based in tax havens.
Measurement of the size of the underground economy is subject to a large
margin of error. Economists seeking to measure its size have often looked at
the volume of cash in circulation, although a large part of the underground
economy takes place via bank accounts located in tax havens. Discrepancies
between the growth of officially reported spending (GDP) and the growth of
cash in circulation may be used to infer growth in the size of the
underground economy, but these estimates are subject to a considerable
amount of judgement, and are controversial.
The growth of online commerce may have increased the size of the underground
economy. eBay has over 40 million regular users, including international
users. The sellers are legally responsible to pay taxes[1]. However, there
is no report on how many actually do, and government rarely if ever
intervene to ensure they do.
The underground economy, when trading decisions are not the result of
coercion, is arguably a free market, since, by definition, it lacks
government intervention. However, various governments have engaged
themselves in the underground economy, thus blurring the line between public
intervention and its absence.
Goods acquired illegally can take one of two price levels. They may be less
expensive than legal market prices because the supplier did not incur the
normal costs of production or pay the usual taxes. This is usually the case
in the underground market for stolen goods.
Alternatively, illegally supplied goods may be more expensive than normal
prices, because the product in question is difficult to acquire or produce,
dangerous to deal with, or may hardly be available legally. This is usually
the case in the underground market for goods that are illegal to possess.
Even when the underground market offers lower prices, however, many people
are likely to continue to purchase the goods in question from legal
suppliers, for a number of reasons:
Some consumers may feel that the black market supplier conducts business
immorally (although this criticism sometimes extends to legal suppliers,
too).
The consumer may — justifiably — trust legal suppliers more, as they are
both easier to contact in case of faults in the product and easier to hold
accountable.
In some countries, it is a criminal offense to handle stolen goods, a factor
which will discourage buyers.
Consumers may feel (legitimately or not) that they incur a physical risk to
their person when dealing with black market goods, depending on the goods
and how they are acquired.
In the latter case of an underground market for goods which are simply
unavailable through legal channels, underground markets will thrive if
consumer demand nonetheless continues. In the case of the legal prohibition
of a product viewed by large segments of the society as harmless, such as
alcohol under prohibition in the United States, the black market will
prosper, and the black marketeers often reinvest profits in a widely
diversified array of legal or illegal activity well beyond the original
item. Underground markets can be reduced or eliminated by removing the
relevant legal restrictions, thereby increasing the supply and quality of
formerly banned goods. People who advocate this may believe that governments
should recognize fewer crimes in order to focus law enforcement effort on
the most treatable dangers to society. However, this can be seen by some
people as the equivalent of legalizing crime in order to reduce the number
of "official" criminal delicts — in other words, an immoral concession that
in their view only makes matters worse. Removing legal restrictions will
usually reduce the price of the goods in question, resulting in more of them
being bought and sold. For example, if illicit drugs were to be legalized,
their price would drop and many would likely abandon their black market
sources in favor of their more trustworthy legal sources.
From:
Wikipedia
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