A black market or underground economy is the market in which illegal goods are traded. Due to the nature of the goods traded, the market itself is forced to operate outside the formal economy, supported by the established state power. Typically the totality of such activity is referred to with the definite article as a complement to the official economies, by market for such goods and services, e.g. "the black market in bush meat".
The black market is distinct from the grey market, in which commodities are distributed through channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer, and the white market, the legal market for goods and services.
Worldwide, the underground economy is estimated to have provided 1.8 billion jobs.
Read more about Black Market: Background, Pricing, Consumer Issues, Size of The Global Black Markets, Organized Crime, Appearance and Disappearance, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or market:
“The black cat does not die. Those same books, if I am not mistaken, teach that the black cat is deathless. Deathless as evil. It is the origin of the common superstition of the cat with nine lives.”
—Peter Ruric, and Edgar G. Ulmer. Edgar G. Ulmer. Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff)
“Talk of a divinity in man! Look at the teamster on the highway, wending to market by day or night; does any divinity stir within him? His highest duty to fodder and water his horses! What is his destiny to him compared with the shipping interests?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)