The way drugs and prostitution boost the economy

14 April 2014 Last updated at 10:57 Magazine Monitor A collection of cultural artefacts Later this year, the UK economy will get a £10bn boost from illegal drugs and prostitution, writes Anthony Reuben.

The Office for National Statistics, which has to calculate the figure, confirmed it at an economic forum last week and will publish more details next month. It will be £3bn from prostitution and £7bn from illegal drugs.

The European Union has declared that illegal activities need to be included in national accounts so that comparisons can be made between countries. In the Netherlands, for example, some drugs are permitted that are illegal elsewhere in Europe, and there is legal prostitution. Given that the allocation of the EU budget is based on the size of a country's economy measured by gross domestic product (GDP), the EU wants to be sure that all countries are measuring it in the same way.

The inclusion of illegal activities in GDP is one of a range of changes to the national accounts which will be introduced across Europe from September. The activities involved are only supposed to be those in which both parties are, at least nominally, voluntary participants.

At first that will only include UK production of cannabis, drug smuggling and prostitution, but it is expected that illegal employment, gambling, pirating of software and fencing of stolen goods will also eventually be included. The European statistics authority Eurostat has brought out extensive guidelines on measuring illegal activities. It says we must assume that all illegal drugs and prostitution services are consumed by households and not businesses.

Statisticians need only be concerned with the takings of prostitutes who have been resident in the country for more than a year and research is recommended on the supply-side (prostitutes) rather than the demand side (their clients) as it is more reliable.

Look out for full details of how the ONS reached its estimates in May.

Knowing how much has been spent on illegal activities is important because otherwise there is a great deal of money that has been legally earned, but you don't know how it has been spent - creating a mismatch between figures for earnings and spending or saving.

Similarly, it would mean there was a lot of money being spent on legal products and services, of which you did not know the origin.

In other words, money from illegal activities, if its origin can be hidden, circulates round the economy just like any other money, and EU statisticians have decided it's important to be able to account for it.

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Gift Aid: boost the value of your eBay Checkout donations by 25% at no cost to you

20 June, 2011 | 11:56AM BST

Hello,

We?re pleased to announce you can now add Gift Aid to your eBay Checkout donations, increasing their value by 25% at no cost to you.

Simply make a Gift Aid declaration , ticking the box to say you?d like to add Gift Aid to your donations. MissionFish, eBay?s partner charity, will then claim Gift Aid on the eBay Checkout donations you have made, and pass it on to your chosen charities.

eBay users have given over ?4.5m to UK charities through Give at Checkout. Last year alone, 1.3m of you made donations.

If all eBay users who?ve donated at eBay checkout make a Gift Aid declaration, UK charities would receive more than ?1 million.

Thank you for supporting your favourite charities through eBay for Charity.

Regards,

The eBay team

http://tinyurl.com/5tsb5tm
01 June, 2011 | 03:29PM BST

We?d like to make members aware of an upcoming feature on My eBay. We?ll be introducing the ability for members to archive items from the ?Purchased? section of their eBay accounts. At this point we don?t have an exact date, but hope to include this later in the summer.

We?d like to take the opportunity to remind members that ?Won? items can now be found in the ?Purchased? section of your account and that you can customise your default My eBay page by using the ?General Settings? option on the top right side of the My eBay page.

Regards,
The eBay Team

24 May, 2011 | 09:51AM BST

Hello,

New features are now available in My eBay and can help you manage your purchase history, payment and postage activity, and watched items more easily. Now you can:

See up to 3 years worth of purchases. Whether you need to keep an eye on local and international purchases, identify sellers you want to buy from again, or retrieve information for tax purposes, you can now see? all your purchases on eBay going back three years. To view, click ?Purchase History? on the left in My eBay and select the purchase history period.Get improved payment and postage reminders. If you?ve yet to pay for an item you?ve won, you?ll see a reminder that identifies purchases not yet paid for. If you?re selling an item, you?ll be alerted when your buyer?s payment has cleared, so you can go ahead and post their purchase. Both types of reminders show a picture of the item in My eBay.Sort lists by most-recently added. If you like creating lists in My eBay (such as a ?Watched Items? list or a ?Shoes? list), you now can sort them by most-recently added within ?Watch List & Other Lists? in My eBay. It?s the easy way to view and compare your latest finds.

The modules for Unsold, Sold, and Active selling items have been removed from the Summary page. This information is still available under the Selling menu or in Selling Manager.

Regards,
The eBay team