Shadow Economies Around the World: What Did We Learn Over the Last 20 Years?

Medina, Leandro; Schneider, Friedrich

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3124402

Cited by 139 publications

(90 citation statements)

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“…As the main limitations of the empirical research, we can mention: the lack of data availability for Croatia; the lack of recent estimates for the size of the shadow economy in CEE countries, the last estimate being provided by Medina and Schneider (2018) [ 63 ] at the level of 2015, as a consequence, within the research we used the last estimate for the period 2015–2019; due to the lack of data for the period 2008–2011 in the case of the innovation index, we used the value from 2011 for this period; data for the share of high-tech exports were available only until 2018, therefore, we also kept the same value for 2019; for the union density rate and the collective bargaining coverage rate, for the years with missing data, we assigned the values of the available last year.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Moderation and Mediation Effects in Addressing the Main Determinants of Income Inequalities in Supporting Quality of Life: Insights from CEE Countries

Davidescu

Nae

Florescu

2022

IJERPH

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Income inequality has become an increasingly pressing economic and social problem in Europe, especially in emerging countries with more significant inequalities than the EU average. The high-level inequality persistence can decrease well-being by accentuating the shortcomings at the household level, increasing poverty and social exclusion, generating political instability, leading to a decline in social cohesion, and, finally, a weakening of the Union as a whole. In this context, the paper aims to identify the main determinants of income inequality across the CEE countries and their significant implications in supporting the quality of life and well-being, highlighting the mediation and moderation effects. The analysis focuses on emerging European countries, using panel-based data analysis for ten EU countries covering 2008–2019. The empirical findings highlighted the importance of the minimum wage, high-tech exports, the degree of economic openness, the quality of institutions, and education spending in reducing income inequality. On the other hand, the proportion of the population with a higher education level and the interaction between official and unofficial economies led to income inequality. Therefore, to increase the quality of life, it is mandatory to decrease inequalities. Thus, fewer people will be at risk of living a less qualitative life. The empirical results also proved that the informal economy and the share of people employed in industry exhibited mediating roles. In contrast, the economic growth, the urbanization degree, and the share of people employed in services exhibited moderating roles. Additionally, we also tested the impact of the income inequality determinants of the quality of life, the empirical results supporting the influence of minimum wage, employment with tertiary education, government effectiveness, the degree of economic openness, and education expenditures.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Moderation and Mediation Effects in Addressing the Main Determinants of Income Inequalities in Supporting Quality of Life: Insights from CEE Countries

Davidescu

Nae

Florescu

2022

IJERPH

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“…As Medina and Schneider (2018) point out, estimates of the size of the shadow economy based on macroeconomic approaches can usually be seen as an upper limit on the size of shadow economies, because they include illegal activities. Relatively newer, and not explicitly mentioned in previous works, is a structural approach based on dynamic stochastic models of general equilibrium.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While examining the issue of the shadow economy, it should be also borne in mind that there is a number of different approaches to it, and especially to its measurement. An overview is offered by Restrepo-Echavarria (2015), Medina and Schneider (2018), or Schneider and Buehn (2018). Enste (2018) presents different approaches to identifying the extent of the shadow economy, and points to their considerable differences.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the period under review, there was a declining trend in the size of the shadow economy, averaging 3.8% of official GDP (with Mexico at high of 6.8% and Turkey at 6.7%, and with the United States at 0.5% and Luxembourg with a value of 1.3%). Medina and Schneider (2018) discuss the extent of the shadow economy for 158 countries between 1991 and 2015. The average size is estimated at 31.9% of GDP, with Zimbabwe 60.6%, Austria 8.9%, and Switzerland 7.2%.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Corruption in Public Administration as a Brake on Transition to Industry 4.0

Němec

Machová²,

Kotlán³

et al. 2022

SAGE Open

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The transition to Industry 4.0 presumes the use of innovation potential which is also determined by the institutional environment, including the level of corruption and its perception. The post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe are characterized by a higher level of corruption and higher share of the shadow economy, which can fundamentally reduce their innovation potential and thus become the brake on the transition to Industry 4.0. The aim of this paper is thus to evaluate the effects of corruption in public administration on the size and structure of the shadow economy, and to determine whether the existence of corruption may affect the transition of a country and society to Industry 4.0. Based on an extended DSGE (Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium) model and using the data for the Czech Republic, the paper finds that corruption in public administration has a much more destructive and long-term effect on the capital accumulation than on the size of the workforce. In that sense, corruption can become a significant obstacle to the transition, underlining that the task of public policies is not only to support digitization, robotization, and further development of technologies, but especially to ensure a transparent non-corrupt environment of public administration.

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“…Kukiya-kiya refers to 'unorthodox ways of eking out a living in a tough environment, or the irregular exploitation of whatever resources are at hand' (Kasipo 2018: 6). This practice has permeated the Zimbabwean society to the point that, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund in 2018, the country's informal economy that year was the second largest in the world (Medina & Schneider 2018).…”

Section: Carbajal Glassmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventing Environmental Crime and Human Vulnerability through the MGPOC Framework: The Case of Zimbabwe’s Lithium Industry

Glass

2022

Journal of Illicit Economies and Development

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Based on a research in progress, the 'micro-geopolitics of organised crime' (MGPOC) framework examines how and why organised crime groups (OCGs) around the globe develop illicit economies associated to natural resources. The foundational premise underlying the MGPOC is that OCGs vie for contested resources-rich territories, transport routes, and access to national and international markets in order to secure strategic hubs of illicit wealth, influence and power, thus creating conditions for large-scale violence primordially at a local scale. The present methodology article represents a step forward in the research agenda. Its purpose is to test-and refine-the MGPOC as an actionable early-warning tool aimed to prevent OCGs from creating illicit economies out of environmental commodities. The article is also keen on highlighting the nefarious ramifications of environmental crime to human vulnerability, particularly to democratic governance, environmental sustainability and citizen security. Because a concrete case study is central to this strategic intelligence assessment, the article analyses lithium in Zimbabwe-Africa's largest producer and world's sixth-and the variables that might enable organised crime to tap into this industry, especially as this metal becomes increasingly critical in the energy sector's transition towards a low-carbon future.

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Shadow Economies Around the World: What Did We Learn Over the Last 20 Years?

Cited by 139 publications

References 0 publications

Exploring the Moderation and Mediation Effects in Addressing the Main Determinants of Income Inequalities in Supporting Quality of Life: Insights from CEE Countries

Exploring the Moderation and Mediation Effects in Addressing the Main Determinants of Income Inequalities in Supporting Quality of Life: Insights from CEE Countries

Corruption in Public Administration as a Brake on Transition to Industry 4.0

Preventing Environmental Crime and Human Vulnerability through the MGPOC Framework: The Case of Zimbabwe’s Lithium Industry

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