Sir, - Language matters. The term "black economy" has been used extensively in recent controversies over bogus non-resident accounts and the forms of employment in the building sector. Some reports have even gone as far as to juxtapose the "black economy", implying "bad", with the "white economy", implying "good". You don't have to be an advocate of PC language to appreciate how the careless use of such phrases can reinforce racial stereotypes.
I make these comments as someone who has written on the phenomenon of the "black economy" in the past and who has used this term, without thinking. There's no excuse when there are plenty of good alternatives available, such as "hidden economy", "underground economy", "unaccounted economy", "unreported economy", "unrecorded economy", etc. Perhaps the media could take the lead by stopping to think before using careless and potentially harmful language. - Yours, etc., Gerry Boyle,
Department of Economics,
NUI,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.