The global underground economy: Understanding its vast size and reach.

The world's underground economy is thought to be about $12 trillion per year! That is about 10% of global GDP. It is often divided into the grey economy (informal sector, that is unreported/untaxed but often not illegal or predatory); and the black economy (think black market, like money laundering, narcotics, and human trafficking).

From what I have read, I think one could also subdivide the underground economy in another way. The part used mainly by poor people (informal work sector, migrant smuggling, knock-off handbags); and the part used by the rich and powerful (money laundering, tax evasion, illegal art/antiquities trade, the biggest criminal gangs, etc.).

Since few people have much of a clue how prevalent - and influential - the grey and black economies are - our meeting probably will serve as an introduction to the topic. We can discuss what constitutes the underground economy, especially its cross-border parts. The harms it causes, which are not limited to the obvious ones like the sex trafficking and drug smuggling. Government corruption is one of the world's worst and most intractable problems, many say. (See the book Thieves of State, for example.) The underground criminal economy greased by bribery is a huge driver of corruption.

And we can talk about the very large multinational enforcement networks that try to fight it, and why they fail so spectacularly (esp. when it comes to rich companies'/people's tax evasion/laundering hmmm).

Background optional readings:

-- TBA.