Informal Economy

Basics

• Also know (with more negative cases usually) as the "Black Market", or as the "Invisible" or "Shadow" Economy
• Essentially all Economic Activity that is not documented by the Government or NGOs
• Thus has no Worker's Protections , Taxes, Or ability to sue for fraud etc
• However they are often much more "in sync" with their local communities' needs
  • They often "fill in" gaps of supply and demand, great examples being re-selling fuel at a higher price, but constant rate during shortages
• This may be an issue with Community Markets etc, as if they become economically siginificant enough, documentation and taxation should occur, and how to apply this in such a chaotic decentralized system will need to be determined

External Links

• The Wikipedia Page on Informal Economies
• The Wikipedia Page on Commodity_Money (This can occur in Informal Economies (Such as Instant-Ramen In USA Prisons, or Tobacco/Petrolium Products in Post-WW2 Europe) )
  • A Video on the Usage of Ramen as an Informal Currency in USA Prisons by the Youtube Channel "Vox" Titled "Why ramen is so valuable in prison"
• A 2012 Tedx Talk by Robert Neuwirth Titled "The power of the informal economy"
• A Playlist of Youtube Videos on the Topic by User: Eric