If criminals are expected to pay taxes from proceeds of crime, the implication is that what they do could be used to model the GDPs of nations, some posit. It does seem like Nigeria is going after that playbook: “…the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced plans to include illegal and hidden activities, such as drug trafficking and prostitution, in the calculation of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”
This is very intriguing considering that it could be a poison pill where in order to boost GDP numbers, you suddenly tell the world how large some vices are flourishing and growing in your ecosystems. This is where the national GDP will break with state GDP composites since most state governors will not like to have any record for some of those lines.
Personally, I do not think it is necessary because we will not want these components to grow. It is better we discount them, or model them indirectly, but giving them a full recognition may not send the right message for our core national values.
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Sure – the smarter people run this show. But it may be hard to push for GDP growth if doing that will mean growing components like drug trafficking, kidnapping, prostitution, etc. I mean, where do you stop?
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