During the COVID–19 pandemic, local governments in the United States ordered some businesses, including restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters, to close, and as a result, those businesses laid off workers. An article in the Wall Street Journal notes that some of these employees decided to go into business for themselves, primarily in a “wide array of service businesses, including home improvement, food, beauty and health.” The article also notes that some of these new businesses were “part of an underground economy—often one-person, cash operations.”

a. Why does the article describe these businesses as being part of “an underground economy”? Why were these businesses asking their customers to pay them in cash?
Why would the owner of a business want to operate it in the underground economy?

b. How did the existence of these businesses affect the measurement of U.S. GDP during the pandemic?