So here are some activities that would go into the shadow economy that are legal, but

most people often do and they just don't report their income. Contracting, a lot of plumbing,

painting homes, fixing homes, car repair.

So dear Venkatesh is a sociologist at Columbia University. Tax preparation is a huge part

of the shadow economy, cutting hair, styling hair, a personal training.

If you've read either Freakonomics or Super Freakonomics, you may remember Venkatesh.

In the first book, he was the deadhead grad student who embedded himself with a crack-selling

gang in Chicago for about seven years. In Super Freak, we wrote about how Venkatesh hung

out on street corners with prostitutes, interviewing them after each and every trick to learn more

about who they are and how they do their jobs.

He spends a lot of time looking into sub-stratta that most of us rarely even think about.

Manis, daycare, people who will bring prepared foods over to your house. So many of the kinds

of things that we associate with the service economy are, in fact, likely to be also part

of the shadow economy. And so dear, what share of goods sold on, let's say, Craigslist,

would you estimate to be going toward the shadow economy?

I'd say conservatively about 99.9%.

I'm glad you're in a conservative mood today.

That's a conservative estimate. I could reframe those figures if I did study.

From WNYC and APM, American Public Media, this is Freakonomics Radio, the podcast that

explores the hidden side of everything. Here's your host, Stephen Dupner.

Today's show is about the shadow economy, all the activities and the attendant dollars

that are not counted in official economic statistics, that escape the attention of the

...