[speedplane]

> black and grey market activity are also I think quite an important counter-balance to the possibility of totalitarian government.

I don't really buy this: plenty of totalitarian regimes have illegal black markets, that governments often tolerate because they don't see a threat to their power.

A better way to counter a totalitarian government is via open communication and coordination of the government's subjects. Government's are far more afraid of this, which is why strict censorship and propaganda are the "go-to" tools for any totalitarian regime.

[AndrewThrowaway]

> governments often tolerate because they don't see a threat to their power

I would say it is often even opposite of it - black/grey markets help to stay in power. When everybody is breaking some law, buying something [almost] illegally, everybody wants to stay quiet.

And it helps [totalitarian] government a lot.

[spottybanana]

> that governments often tolerate because they don't see a threat to their power.

You think for example the North Korean government happily tolerates the black markets there? No way. If it would be easy for them to control them they would close them down. The black/grey markets happening in totalitarian countries are more like compromises - it would be too difficult to stop the activity without murdering half of the population or so.

[speedplane]

> You think for example the North Korean government happily tolerates the black markets there? No way.

They most certainly do. There are tons of articles based on satellite based cameras that track the rise and fall of small black markets in North Korea. Some markets lasted years, before being abruptly shut down for unknown reasons.

[JulianMorrison]

You'll find that when an authoritarian government has a black market, the (brothers, cousins, etc of the) authoritarians are the ones running it. Police raids happen under the same kind of circumstances as corruption charges: you annoyed the wrong authoritarian, or they needed to make an example.

[spottybanana]

The point was happily. North Korean regime is at the point where they don't have any other sensible option than to tolerate the black markets.

[bonzini]

There's also another reason: black markets and widespread corruption make everyone a possible target of regime purges. Remember Al Capone, folks...

[notahacker]

Also, lower level officials tend to make a lot of profit out of black markets, and selective tolerance of them doing so helps convince them that maintaining the regime and demonstrating loyalty in all other regards is in their interests.