“Only Versace”: Knock-Offs, Ostentation, and Desire amid the Mexican War on Drugs.

ince the war on drugs began in 2007, Mexico has accumulated more than 250,000 murders and 70,000 disappearances. A complex landscape of criminal organisations has been shaping the violent conditions in the country, accompanied by an imaginary that projects their presence in multiple forms. We can identify a dire example with the bodies found in mass graves that are still wearing their clothes, often designer knock-offs inspired by the wardrobes of drug lords. In this scenario, I argue that an overlap exists between two underground economies: drug trafficking and counterfeit clothing. To understand this relation and its connection to criminal power, my analysis focuses on one of the basic aspects of organised crime: governance, especially its symbolic vein as well as its interpretation and dissemination through media outlets. The names of my interlocutors have been changed in order to protect their security.

Tax Amnesties in Tax Reform Policy: A Case Study from Pakistan and Lessons for Developing Economies

An optimally designed tax amnesty scheme can serve as a strategic component in a larger tax reform process. Such a reform can particularly assist in the tax collection efforts of developing economies like Pakistan. Pakistan’s tax amnesty schemes in 2018 and 2019 helped grow the tax base substantially. India’s and Indonesia’s schemes in 2016 also showed promise. My study compares the recent tax amnesties adopted by these three countries (Pakistan, India and Indonesia). Based on these experiences, I propose improvements in the composition of Pakistan’s tax amnesty design. An optimal tax policy cannot rely only on wide-spread enforcement, particularly in countries with large underground economies--like Pakistan, India and Indonesia. Instead, it should focus more on the optimal amnesty design alongside targeted enforcement efforts, aimed especially at documenting and taxing large underground economic activities.

Dee-jay drop that deadbeat : hip-hop's remix of fatherhood narratives

This dissertation examines hip-hop fatherhood narratives from 2010-2015 influenced by drug addiction, mass incarceration, underground economies, trauma, and dysfunctional co-parenting. Explicitly, the paper explores how marginalized, urban African American dads are imagined as protectors, providers, and/or surrogates in hip-hop lyricism. Additionally, the research pays attention to hip-hop artists' depiction of identity orchestration and identity formation of black adolescents and patriarchs by utilizing David Wall's theories on identity stasis. Moreover, the dissertation critically analyzes hip-hop lyrics that reflect different concepts of maleness such as hyper-masculine, the complex cool, biblical, heroic, and hegemonic masculinities. In sum, the paper examines rap lyrics use of mimicry calling into question representative black male engagement with American patriarchy.

Resiliency: It Goes Beyond the Hair

In the January article of The Guardian News ‘How Hurricane Maria forced Puerto Ricans to change their hair’, author Norbert Figueroa reflects on the devastating effects of the category four storm in the US territory. Besides the aftermath caused by floodwaters, massive electric shortage, and structural damages, Figueroa revealed how Hurricane Maria forced adaptations to everyday life, including the way Puerto Ricans styled their hair. Extreme conditions of heat and humidity, exacerbated by the lack of electric power, lead to the acceptance of natural hairdos, to the creation of sidewalk barber shops, and to the formalization of an underground economy where haircuts in the form of currency, were exchanged for power generators. Figueroa’s simple but complex observation is critical in the revelation of creative self-organizing assemblages at the face of concealed realities. If the simple act of hair restructuring convokes taxonomical categorizations, ingenious adaptabilities, spatial re-conceptualizations, and the creation of new underground economies, why isn’t architecture transcending its heteronomous condition to achieve ‘resilient’ solutions? If resilience is defined as ‘the ability of objects to spring back into shape’ after being deformed,’ does it exclude the notion of ‘predictability’? This paper does not bring to the fore the discursivity that the resilient discourse entails, but it is an attempt to question its interpretations and trivial meanings within a ‘utopian’ model that fails to come to terms with the constitution of the physical realm.

Assessment of underground economy and tax evasion: Empirical evidence from Pakistan

Underground economy has serious implications for economic performance and public policy of a country. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the size of underground economy and tax evasion in Pakistan for the period 1973-2016. This study uses monetary approach for estimation of size of the underground economy and tax evasion in Pakistan. The results indicated that increase in taxes, intensity of regulation, and inflation were the driving force of underground economy. The estimates show that the size of underground economy in Pakistan showed an increasing trend from 1974 onward and attained its maximum value in 1998. Thereafter, its size exhibited decreasing trend with small fluctuations. Interestingly, the impact of taxation reforms introduced in 1997 was not considerable. Results indicated that the tax burden is the driving force for the existence of underground economy which need to be appropriately set and enforced. This may discourage people from indulging in underground economies. The results from this study can be used for effective policy formulations with respect to underground economy.

Governance in Online Stolen Data Markets

We analyze the governance structure of online stolen data markets. As cybercriminal underground economies, stolen data markets are beyond the reach of state intervention, and yet they need form and regulation in order to function. While the illicit nature of the business brings risks to its participants, the online characteristics of these markets enable the participants to communicate easily, which is a crucial means of generating trust. We first identify stolen data markets in terms of their economic organization as two-sided markets, economic platforms with two distinct user groups that provide each other with network synergies. This characterization enables us to understand the role of the forum administrator as that of an intermediary, market creator, and market regulator. Then we clarify the role of communication networks and social structure in creating trust among buyers and sellers.