Abstract
America’s underground economy has grown strikingly since the 1970s, reflecting consumer demand for cheap prices, workers’ search for alternative sources of income, and government intervention. Far from unregulated, this economy has been managed in crucial ways, revealing a fundamental paradox in free market rhetoric. This was particularly striking in New York City in the latter decades of the twentieth century, where a set of uneven responses to the underground economy expanded its boundaries through new licensing, zoning, and permitting requirements that many businesses could not conform to. A tragic fire at an immigrant social club in March 1990 revealed the problematic turns in municipal policy taken in the aftermath of the city’s fiscal crisis. The lead up and response to the Happy Land Social Club fire by city officials demonstrated a rise in punitive regulation aimed at New York’s marginalized residents in an era of alleged deregulation and small government fetish.
Published Version
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