Black Market and Theft

Abstract

Pillaging was one means of compensating for the shortcomings of the regulated legitimate economy but, as law and order was restored, it became increasingly less viable. Quickly, a thriving black market evolved to compensate for the shortfalls of the controlled economy. In fact, the population of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais was able to evade the legal economy and its extensive system of consumption regulation to an astounding extent. Merchants, both retail and wholesale, found themselves in the unusual situation of being the enforcement agents for a system of regulation meant to control them. Farmers were also in a unique position to evade the system of controls and earn enormous profits. Further, there was no shortage of people willing to buy goods clandestinely, in spite of the price inflation on the black market. Two black markets emerged, one in goods and one in ration coupons. The black market’s consumers cut across almost all social and economic lines, although certain groups were more prominent and others, such as the poorest, were excluded.

It is necessary to explain something about the nature of the sources available for study for this particular part of the project, as it shapes the conclusions one can draw. The sources available are seriously limited. Police and court records, potentially the wealthiest sources of information, are unavailable. Available documents, found in the prefectoral records and the regional newspaper, are largely anecdotal in nature. They focus on particular segments of the black market, especially the monetary black market. Clandestine barter trade largely evades the records. Furthermore, it must be remembered that these anecdotes are the stories of failures, those who got caught, and that there are no means of knowing what percentage of the total black market they represent. Thus, one is prevented from estimating a total volume of trade on the black market. However, the anecdotal sources, reports made to the Prefect regarding various cases and investigations by his subordinates and by the police forces, are sufficiently rich to provide a socio-economic profile of the black market and to determine how it worked.