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Is it still appropriate to use the term black market?

Jim Riley

11th December 2011

I am in the process of updating my Tutor2u Q&A’s for 2013 editions due out in the summer next year. One of areas I am tightening up on is the distinction between the official, shadow informal and underground economies and the unintended consequence of high levels of indirect taxation in creating – now what term would you now use?

Time to be culturally sensitive: is it still appropriate to use the term black market. Personally I am dropping the term and opting instead for underground or illegal markets. So here is the terminology the different types of economy I am using in my teaching from now on:

What is the shadow economy? The shadow economy is the system of economic activity existing alongside a country’s official formal economy. The shadow economy consists of the underground economy: illegal transactions in eg drugs and the informal economy: legal but undeclared output eg self-employed street trader

Jim Riley

Jim co-founded tutor2u alongside his twin brother Geoff! Jim is a well-known Business writer and presenter as well as being one of the UK's leading educational technology entrepreneurs.

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