Invisible, Outlawed, and Untaxed
Invisible, Outlawed, and Untaxed

Author: Harry I Greenfield

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 1993-04-20

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13:

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This work examines America's growing underground economy--its size, nature, and economic effects. The study begins with a critical analysis of the various methods used for measuring the size of the underground economy in the United States. It then develops a definition of the underground economy which is consistent with our system of national accounts. A sector-by-sector approach is used to measure the actual size of this sub-economy and to estimate the labor force involved. Finally, the author explores the economic consequences for the general economy of significant underground economic activity--for example: tax evasion, economic efficiency, and cyclical aspects. This work will be of interest to scholars, students, and policy-makers in economics, economic policy, political science, and criminology.

The Meritocracy Myth
The Meritocracy Myth

Author: Stephen J. McNamee

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023-07-17

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1538173476

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There is a pervasive ideology that claims America is a land of unlimited opportunity, and people get out of the system what they put into it based on talent, attitude, hard work, and character. The Meritocracy Myth: Who Gets Ahead and Why deconstructs this idea by identifying factors that suppress, neutralize, or negate merit-based traits. These include economic inheritance, who you know (social capital) and “fitting in” (cultural capital), being at the right place at the right time, unequal access to educational opportunities, and discrimination based on race, sex, age, sexual orientation, physical disability, religion, and physical appearance. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter encourage students to think critically and develop a deeper understanding of why some people succeed and others fail. New to the Fifth Edition New discussion of national college admission scandal highlights how educational opportunities are mediated by social class (Chapter 5) Revised Chapter 7, “The Luck Factor,” includes discussions of how the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturing of critical goods in the U.S., and the oversupply of college graduates impact the likelihood of intergenerational mobility New discussion on reparations as a way to address inequality for historically discriminated against groups reflects current debates (Chapter 10) New discussion of murders of Black suspects by police, Black Lives Matter, and the Dobbs Supreme Court decision illustrate ongoing patterns of discrimination that impact the prospects of Americans (Chapter 9)

Size, Causes and Consequences of the Underground Economy
Size, Causes and Consequences of the Underground Economy

Author: Friedrich Schneider

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-01-18

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1351149032

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Bringing together top international researchers this book provides a worldwide coverage of underground economic activities. It presents estimates of the underground economy for 145 countries - the most comprehensive ever undertaken; an in-depth examination of the underground economy for a select number of these countries; and an analysis of the public policy implications through an assessment of how various governments have attempted to address this issue. The book brings together the latest research on tax evasion, tax morale and other underlying factors that have so significantly influenced participation in the underground economy. It provides a comprehensive overview of the size and development of the underground economy, its major causes and motivations and its effects on the legitimate economy. In addition, it reviews recent public policy concerns by a number of countries and how they have responded with measures to curb these underground economic activities.

The Informal Economy in Global Perspective
The Informal Economy in Global Perspective

Author: Abel Polese

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-04-18

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 331940931X

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This book critically engages with how formal and informal mechanisms of governance are used across the world. Specifically, it analyzes how the governance mechanisms of formal institutions are questioned, challenged and renegotiated through informal institutions. Whilst there is an emerging body of scholarship focusing on informal practices, this is scattered across a number of disciplines. This edited collection, by contrast, fosters a dialogue on these issues, moving away from monodisciplinary and normative methodologies that view informal institutions and practices simply as temporary economic phenomena. In doing so, the authors provide a wider understanding of how governance is composed of both the formal and the informal, which complement each other but are also constantly in competition. This novel approach will appeal to social scientists, economists, policy-makers, practitioners, and anyone else willing to widen their understanding of how governance works.

The Critical Handbook of Money Laundering
The Critical Handbook of Money Laundering

Author: Petrus C. van Duyne

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-30

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1137523980

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The overarching aim of this book is to bring order to the subjects of money laundering and of the anti-money laundering frameworks that have been written over the past thirty years. It provides scholars, practitioners and policy makers with a guide to what is known of the subject thus far. The book examines critically the underlying assumptions of research and of policy-making in the field and offers a systematic review of the most important policy and academic literature on the subject.

Australia's Cash Economy: A Troubling Issue for Policymakers
Australia's Cash Economy: A Troubling Issue for Policymakers

Author: Christopher Bajada

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-22

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1351739905

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This title was first published in 2002: Very little is known on the Australian underground economy. Only speculation has offered estimates of its size - around ten per cent of GDP. This book provides comprehensive research on the topic for Australia, including the suggestion that the underground economy exhibits strong fluctuations. The text has three central objectives: to understand why a suspiciously large amount of currency remains outstanding and cannot be explained by legitimate transactions alone. Secondly, to examine factors that motivate individuals to participate in the underground economy and the consequences they may have on the business cycle, on the quality of the National Accounts and on taxation revenue. And finally, to examine whether households or businesses are contributing most to the underground economy and whether the new tax system, introduced in July 2000, will have any impact on underground activities in Australia.

Underground Economies in Transition
Underground Economies in Transition

Author: Edgar L. Feige

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-05-23

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 0429667604

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Published in 1999, this work examines the crucial role played by unofficial and underground activities in the transitional economies of Central and Eastern Europe and new independent states. Countries undergoing radical transformations from socialism to capitalism experience fundamental changes in institutional rules governing property rights, government regulations, taxation and the appropriate conduct of public service. Underground and unofficial activities represents non-compliant economic behaviours involving evasion, avoidance, circumvention, abuse and/or corruption of the institutional rules as well as efforts to conceal these illicit behaviours from the view of public authorities. The book employs the conceptual framework of the new institutional economics to elaborate the theoretical relationship between underground activities and overall performance of transition economies. The social, cultural and economic causes of unofficial activities are examined as well as their consequences for economic policy and performance. Policy issues include the relationship between tax evasion and corruption, the underground economy and organized crime, state and regulation, and methods and consequences of legalization of the underground economy.

Economic Sociology
Economic Sociology

Author: Alejandro Portes

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2010-05-09

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0691142238

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The sociological study of economic activity has witnessed a significant resurgence. Recent texts have chronicled economic sociology's nineteenth-century origins while pointing to the importance of context and power in economic life, yet the field lacks a clear understanding of the role that concepts at different levels of abstraction play in its organization. Economic Sociology fills this critical gap by surveying the current state of the field while advancing a framework for further theoretical development. Alejandro Portes examines economic sociology's principal assumptions, key explanatory concepts, and selected research sites. He argues that economic activity is embedded in social and cultural relations, but also that power and the unintended consequences of rational purposive action must be factored in when seeking to explain or predict economic behavior. Drawing upon a wealth of examples, Portes identifies three strategic sites of research--the informal economy, ethnic enclaves, and transnational communities--and he eschews grand narratives in favor of mid-range theories that help us understand specific kinds of social action. The book shows how the meta-assumptions of economic sociology can be transformed, under certain conditions, into testable propositions, and puts forward a theoretical agenda aimed at moving the field out of its present impasse.

Reefer Madness
Reefer Madness

Author: Eric Schlosser

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2004-04-01

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 054752675X

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New York Times Bestseller: The shadowy world of “off the books” businesses—from marijuana to migrant workers—brought to life by the author of Fast Food Nation. America’s black market is much larger than we realize, and it affects us all deeply, whether or not we smoke pot, rent a risqué video, or pay our kids’ nannies in cash. In Reefer Madness, the award-winning investigative journalist Eric Schlosser turns his exacting eye to the underbelly of American capitalism and its far-reaching influence on our society. Exposing three American mainstays—pot, porn, and illegal immigrants—Schlosser shows how the black market has burgeoned over the past several decades. He also draws compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new technology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, and how big business learns—and profits—from the underground. “Captivating . . . Compelling tales of crime and punishment as well as an illuminating glimpse at the inner workings of the underground economy. The book revolves around two figures: Mark Young of Indiana, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his relatively minor role in a marijuana deal; and Reuben Sturman, an enigmatic Ohio man who built and controlled a formidable pornography distribution empire before finally being convicted of tax evasion. . . . Schlosser unravels an American society that has ‘become alienated and at odds with itself.’ Like Fast Food Nation, this is an eye-opening book, offering the same high level of reporting and research.” —Publishers Weekly

Reframing International Development
Reframing International Development

Author: Nelson W. Keith

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 1997-09-04

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 0803970625

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Attempts to theorize contemporary globalization rarely stray beyond variations on old themes of superordination versus subordination. Yet there are many new definers of our present global reality - depletion of strategic resources, degradation of our environment, counter-offensives against modern patterns of thought and action - which suggest that a new framework of global relations is needed. Nelson Keith challenges the presumptions upon which Western notions of the world have rested, and sounds a call to forge a world order more sensitive to all of its representative voices.