Italy to include illegal drug sales, prostitution in GDP calculations

[blehblehbleh]

[QUOTE]Italy will include prostitution and illegal drug sales in the gross domestic product calculation this year, a boost for its chronically stagnant economy and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s effort to meet deficit targets.

Drugs, prostitution and smuggling will be part of GDP as of 2014 and prior-year figures will be adjusted to reflect the change in methodology, the Istat national statistics office said today. The revision was made to comply with European Union rules, it said.

Renzi, 39, is committed to narrowing Italy’s deficit to 2.6 percent of GDP this year, a task that’s easier if output is boosted by portions of the underground economy that previously went uncounted. Four recessions in the last 13 years left Italy’s GDP at 1.56 trillion euros ($2.13 trillion) last year, 2 percent lower than in 2001 after adjusting for inflation.

“Even if the impact is hard to quantify, it’s obvious it will have a positive impact on GDP,” said Giuseppe Di Taranto, economist and professor of financial history at Rome’s Luiss University. “Therefore Renzi will have a greater margin this year to spend” without breaching the deficit limit, he said.[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-22/cocaine-sales-to-boost-italian-gdp-in-boon-for-budget.html"]SOURCE[/URL]
[URL="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-23/drugs-prostitution-set-to-boost-italy-gdp-result/5473548"]SOURCE 2[/URL]

[EmperorScorpious]

Well, technically it [I]does[/I] fuel the economy

[blehblehbleh]

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;44887439]Well, technically it [I]does[/I] fuel the economy[/QUOTE]

studies show up to 30% of successful italian businesses were founded under the influence of cocaine

[Wiggles]

I wonder how much their GDP is propped up by Berlusconi's bunga bunga parties.

[Thomo_UK]

[QUOTE=Wiggles;44887494]I wonder how much their GDP is propped up by Berlusconi's bunga bunga parties.[/QUOTE]

Without those Parties there would be no Italy.

[ultra_bright]

Hahahaha oh wow thats scrubbing the bottom of the barrel for sure.

[Nefarious]

If the Radicali don't use this as leverage to legalize drugs and bring back state-controlled whorehouses, I'll be sorely disappointed.

[Jewish Paladin]

Didn't Greece do the same thing when they were really hitting rock bottom?

[Flapadar]

It makes sense to regulate and tax most of the sex trade and (arguably) some of the drugs trade. Both would happen anyway and at least under a controlled environment, the people involved are less likely to be hurt. Plus taxes.

[AntonioR]

Statistics can be such a prostitute sometimes.

[Kondor]

adding drug sales and prositution to GDP calculations = improving the economy

[lope]

Cuba's GDP soars past the US's

[-xxsetshotxx-]

[QUOTE=lope;44887872]Cuba's GDP soars past the US's[/QUOTE]

Mexico should include cartel drug exports in their GDP, that shit's worth billions :v:

economy: [x] fixed