System D is a manner of responding to challenges that require one to have the ability to think quickly, to adapt, and to improvise when getting a job done. The term is a direct translation of French . The letter ''D'' refers to any one of the French nouns , or (French slang). The verbs and mean to ''make do'', to ''manage'', especially in an adverse situation. Basically, it refers to one's ability and need to be resourceful. In ''

Down and Out in Paris and London ''Down and Out in Paris and London'' is the first full-length work by the English author George Orwell, published in 1933. It is a memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities. Its target audience was the middle- and upper-cla ...

'',

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

described the term as something the lowest-level kitchen workers, the , wanted to be called, indicating that they were people who would get the job done, no matter what. The term System D gained wider popularity in the United States after appearing in the 2006 publication of

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain ( ; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author and Travel documentary, travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the huma ...

's '' The Nasty Bits''. Bourdain references finding the term in Nicolas Freeling's memoir, ''The Kitchen'', about Freeling's years as a Grand Hotel cook in France. In recent literature on the

informal economy An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither Taxation, taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developin ...

, System D is the growing share of the world's economy which makes up the

underground economy A black market is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services whose production and distribut ...

, which has a projected GDP of $10 trillion. The informal economy is usually considered as one part of a dual economy. The concept of dual economy is where the economy is divided into two parts: the formal and the informal. The formal economy consists of all economic activities that operate within the official legal framework and are regulated by the government. In common parlance, it is understood as enterprises and citizens who pay taxes on all generated incomes. The reason the informal economy is described as a DIY economy or System D is because of the self-reliance of the members within this sector. This is not to be confused with

autarky Autarky is the characteristic of self-sufficiency, usually applied to societies, communities, states, and their economic systems. Autarky as an ideology or economic approach has been attempted by a range of political ideologies and movement ...

or self-reliant economies. Rather, due to lack of documentation, such as proof of citizenship, tax ID number, proof of identity or proof of address, people working in this sector are usually left with no way to seek support from their governments. This means that they are unable to access formal institutions which require documentation and forces them to be self-reliant. Economists define self-sufficiency or self-reliance at the individual or household level as the ability to accumulate and hold resources beyond those required to meet basic needs. In the context of an informal, or a System D economy, this would not only include a person's financial resources but their ability to mobilize skills, talents, social relationships and networks as buffers against economic shock.

In other languages

There are a range of terms in other languages describing similar circumstances. Examples for those are in German, in

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

, (''Trick 3'') in Finnish, in Afrikaans, '' to hack it'' in English, in European Portuguese, in Brazilian Portuguese, in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, and Punjabi, in Swahili, in Tagalog and in Congolese French.

References

{{reflist, 2 French slang Informal economy

In other languages

See also

References