The Rules of Surviving a Black Market Economy by Fabian Ommar for The Organic Prepper
In almost every prepping and survival forum, you will find discussions on bartering in great lengths and details. However, the surge of a black market economy will come long before bartering becomes a thing in most SHTFs. Every prepper seems to have their ideas and pre-planned strategies for bartering when the SHTF. But I don’t see the black market discussed that much, even though it’s a lot more common and even likely in all but the most extreme SHTF scenarios.
Selco narrates many of his bartering events during the Balkans conflict and provides valuable advice on making safer transactions in fully collapsed places. Many books about everyday life during wartime, especially WW2, which was a global event with widespread repercussions, also provide real-life insights into the workings of black markets.
I haven’t been through a quasi-Mad Max SHTF like Selco, or even a serious and long-lasting one like Jose (who I’m sure can also provide great insights on these topics). But I can share a thing or two about slow-burning SHTFs, and informal economies of exchange tend to thrive in those situations too.
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Black markets exist in most places, even during normal times.
Below is Investopedia’s definition of the black market:
A black market is any market where the exchange of goods and services takes place in order to facilitate the transaction of illegal goods or to avoid government oversight and taxes, or both. [source]
Remember, it’s always about resources. In essence, black markets function on scarcity, regulations, supply and demand imbalances in the regular market.
Anyway, that’s how people get access to prohibited or heavily regulated goods. It can be anything from guns and ammo, unapproved medications, currency, and unfortunately, also drugs, products of criminal activity, wild or exotic animals and birds, exploited children, and other atrocities. Black markets, in general, are a lot less profitable and thus a lot smaller in countries and places with stronger, more vibrant, and exceptionally less regulated economies. Why would someone risk the black market if they can get access to something in the regular economy?
But where there’s demand, there will be supply.
Still, there will always be something people want that’s prohibited or regulated. Therefore, people and the market find a way. The black market is an escape valve, a way to circumvent restrictions and regulations.
And shortages and limitations become quite common during SHTFs. Even ones in which there’s still some institutional order in place. And this concerns us as preppers and survivalists.
When people want something or need something, someone will find ways to provide. It’s possible to suppress and highly regulate a market but not to kill it. If life goes on, so does trading.
