Gangsters Need to let Pimps Show Them how to Run a Business

I stumbled on to an interesting article about the underground economy.  This article basically summarizes a book called, “Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor”.  Here is a quote from the article:

“On that one residential block, Venkatesh focuses on three women: Bird, a prostitute; Eunice, an office cleaner who sells home-cooked meals on the side; and Marlene, a nanny who is president of the block’s neighborhood association. (All the names in the book are pseudonyms.) The women share tart observations about their respective livelihoods: Bird thinks gangsters should “let the pimps show them how to run a business.” Through them, we come to meet a diverse cast of locals, “nearly all linked together,” Venkatesh writes, “in a vast, often invisible web that girded their neighborhood. This web was the underground economy.””

I always find it fascinating to read about other people and how they get along in their daily financial lives.  What I’m struck with from this article is how structured the underground economy can be in a neighborhood and also by how “stuck” these people are in their situations.  I don’t think it would be very easy to work your way out of a situation like this very easily.

Anyway, take a look and see what you think!