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The Underground Economy: Crash Course Econ #32

2016-05-07

[public] 486K views, 9.9K likes, 203 dislikes audio only

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What is an underground economy? Whether you call it a black market, a grey market, or just the shop down the street, its about connecting people with goods outside of official channels. Some stuff happens in the underground economy because it's illegal, but a lot of the money that moves around this way is exchanged for pretty mundane goods and services. We'll talk about how these things work, and the awesome ways that economists figure out where all that money is.


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IN THE U.S. THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY IS PROBABLY WORTH SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ONE AND TWO TRILLION DOLLARS
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ACCORDING TO THE UN, ORGANIZED CRIME IS AN 870-BILLION DOLLAR A YEAR BUSINESS. ABOUT ONE AND A HALF PERCENT OF GLOBAL GDP. DRUG
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THE INFORMAL ECONOMY CAN SERVE AS A TEMPORARY BUFFER FOR INDIVIDUALS, AND THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE
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