Mario is a pimp and a heroin addict in Rome. He regularly pays graft. While Mario’s services and his consumption and production are illegal, they are nonetheless marketed. Money changes hands. Mario’s activities are part of Italy’s hidden economy. In a nation’s bookkeeping, not all transactions are accounted for, but at the end of any year, it’s impossible to measure the black market. So many nations, including Italy, regularly impute the minimal value for the hidden economy in their national accounts. So Mario’s illegal services and production and consumption activities are recognised and recorded as work. That’s what the International Economic System says.
“Now Consider Tendai, a young girl in the Lowveld in Zimbabwe. Her day starts at 4.00 am when, to fetch water, she carries a 30-litre tin to a borehole about 11 kilometres from her home. She walks barefoot and is home by 9.00 am. She eats a little and proceeds to fetch firewood until midday. She cleans the utensils from the family’s morning meal
