Even the usually thriving black market, the bulk of the economy, was punctured by the lack of banknotes.

ECONOMIST: New Congo, same old ways

More of Mexico's enormous black market must be brought into the formal economy, so as to get more companies to contribute to employees' pensions.

ECONOMIST: A falling birth rate, and what it means

Maurizio Sacconi, a junior welfare minister, one of the architects of the proposed changes to Article 18, reckons this should be only a first step to fight the black economy and make the labour market more flexible.

ECONOMIST: Italian labour law and politics

It was the housing market that helped pull the US economy into the black hole it has yet to escape from nearly three years later.

FORBES: Double Dip in Housing; Could Double Dip Recession Be Next?

With the fall of the Third Reich, the German economy was ruined, shifting most transactions to a black market.

FORBES: So You Think You Wouldn't Be Bamboozled By Lothar Malskat's Art Forgeries? [Book Excerpt #2]