The term shadow economy refers to all the money generated and jobs created that has been hidden from the government legally or illegally. These type of jobs and money are not subject to taxes, social security deductions, employment identification numbers etc. (University of Maryland, n.d.) Shadow economy can be detrimental to the U.S but for some countries, this may be the only way their economy can survive. Shadow economy prevents the government from gaining from millions of taxable dollars which could assist with improving infrastructures, pay for service debts, build schools and roads, hire tax collectors and I would assume, assisting with welfares and unemployment. Gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country's border in a specific period of time. I have learned that shadow economy could actually drive a country to bankruptcy. Without an accurate picture of how economy is doing, there could be an underestimation of the economic size, which could result to tax revenue loss. In Shadow economy, a large portion of products and services are untaxed. This will result lower taxes and could affect how the government allocate funding in terms of essential services such as healthcare, education and infrastructure. short reply to this discussion