Re:The Shadow Superpower
by intended on Wednesday March 21, 2012 @04:02PM
(#3736304)
Isn't that just the hawala system? That's been there in the Arab world, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh from what I remember.
This system is disrupted and imo should be. It's been used as the primary way to funnel 'black money' and criminal organizations.
system D is a sign that the market is not working, and in those situations, hawala and so on are useful tools to avoid getting stuck having to bribe someone.
This would be OK if your government was corrupt (say 60%) - the moment you start reforming though, and actually need things like running electricity, water, mass transit, Roads!, you need governmental income.
It ends up allowing people to dodge paying for basic taxes. - IT assessments are hard when you start with a non formal economy and then have untraceable money changing hands.
In short: hawala is pretty cool, but also an absurdly effective way to hide money and transfer it around the world. Hard to stamp out, and ends up being used by criminal systems.
This system is disrupted and imo should be. It's been used as the primary way to funnel 'black money' and criminal organizations.
system D is a sign that the market is not working, and in those situations, hawala and so on are useful tools to avoid getting stuck having to bribe someone.
This would be OK if your government was corrupt (say 60%) - the moment you start reforming though, and actually need things like running electricity, water, mass transit, Roads!, you need governmental income.
It ends up allowing people to dodge paying for basic taxes. - IT assessments are hard when you start with a non formal economy and then have untraceable money changing hands.
In short: hawala is pretty cool, but also an absurdly effective way to hide money and transfer it around the world. Hard to stamp out, and ends up being used by criminal systems.