We hear a lot about the connection between terrorism and the black market. But what really causes this? The issue at hand is a value chasm: where illogical thinking and irrational consumerism has caused us to value certain items far beyond reasonable, and thus a black market is created.
Much has been discussed (sometimes in the form of political propaganda, but discussed nonetheless) in recent years about the link between the black market and fanatical terrorist-like organizations. The trail of money from the sale of things like knock-off handbags, bootleg DVD's, drugs, and the like can easily be seen leading back to criminal organizations, generally with some political bend.
While it's hard to argue the money trail (who do you think sells this stuff?), as well the "effect" portion of the theory (terrorism isn't good)- the "cause" seems to have been relegated to the arena of moral and political propaganda. Terrorists are evil-doers, thus so are pot smokers and bootleg DVD collectors. Patrons of the knock-off Prada handbag peddler in New York City? That's right- evil-doers.
Maybe this suffices for the simplicity necessary nowadays to market a political and moral agenda. Unfortunately, real-world cause-and-effect isn't so black and white. When we look at the issue under the microscope of socio-economic reality, the real causes involve players in our own capitalist economy: the companies that supply goods, and the consumers who want them.
The issue is of serious concern. Sure, it certainly may be difficult to take it seriously for most people, when the only interface to the issue is Reefer Madness-style public service announcements during the Super Bowl, somehow drawing a line from a teenager's desire to experiment with marijuana to Islamic fundamentalists flying planes into buildings. However, with the rapid globalization of the economy, combined with the fact that terrorist attacks are now a threat within the borders of nearly every nation- the issue of the supply and demand of the black market should be a primary matter in the War on Terror.
Sometimes it helps to skip over the moral arguments and move right into the universe of Economics 101 (in that morality is often made up, and economics is real). Black markets often exist because of a gap between the value of a product and the demand for it. This gap is often caused by some artificial effect on the current value of the product, because unaltered supply and demand should create a value for a product that generally works for everyone that needs it. We all complain about the price of gas and groceries, but there is a reason that there isn't a thriving black market for it.
There is, however, a black market for what our culture considers high-end luxury items. A select few people with relatively massive expendable income have valued, for example, certain purses or watches thousands of times higher than their normal, mass-market counterparts. I'm not about to condemn this on some "higher moral ground"- free market economics safely allows for value to be placed on items for purely intangible, vanity reasons. If you can easily afford a $1000 watch, go nuts.
The problem occurs when the mass culture- not just the ones who have nothing better to do than buy $1000 watches- ascribes a need for or entitlement to the same irrational types of products, disregarding the economic means of quenching this need. It works like this: A purse, for instance, is recognized as a need. The fulfillment of this need is valued at $1000 (a $20 purse will just not do!) The means to fulfill this need is, say, $20 (the person can reasonably afford a $20 purse). Thus, the perfect environment for a black market: $20 knock-offs of $1000 purses.
