The paper presents a model where illegal shadow production arises from tax evasion. The equilibrium size of the shadow production is determined by consumer moral valuations, possibly affected by the inherited culture or religion. The implications of the model are tested in the OECD data on groups of countries for two regimes 1979-1992 and 1992-2003. Evidence is found on a link between tax morale and shadow markets. No evidence, however, is found to support the view that the tax morale differs between the Catholic South and Protestant North in Europe. The results suggest that the earlier studies have overestimated the size of the shadow economies and that there has been a regime switch in the evolution of the shadow economies during the early 1990s.JEL Classification: C23, D43, H26, L13