The Role of the Informal Economy in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Europe

Roberto Dell Anno, Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu () and Eduard Mihai Manta
Additional contact information
Roberto Dell Anno: Department of Economics and Statistics and CELPE, University of Salerno, Italy
Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu: Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Eduard Mihai Manta: National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, Romania

The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, 2024, vol. 26, issue Special 18, 1108

Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between the informal economy and sustainable development, focussing on how the shadow economy influenced the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formulated in the 2030 Agenda in Europe. The research used data extracted from the Eurostat and Schneider (2022) and analysed sustainable development performance in 36 European countries in the years 2010 and 2022. The methodology involved applying partial least squares (PLS) regression to construct a synthetic indicator of sustainable development, considering two scenarios: one that excluded and another that included the size of the informal economy. The results highlighted that while the informal economy contributed to immediate poverty alleviation and short-term economic resilience, it created challenges for long-term sustainability in areas such as formal employment, social inclusion, and environmental regulation. The findings highlighted the need for stronger policies to integrate the informal sector into the formal framework, thus improving overall sustainability. The study made an original contribution by addressing the dual role of the informal economy in sustainable development, offering new perspectives for formulating more effective policies in the context of the 2030 Agenda.

Keywords: sustainable development; SDG; informal economy; composite indicators; PLS. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C51 E26 O17 Q01 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_3361.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aes:amfeco:v:26:y:2024:i:special18:p:1108

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal from Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Valentin Dumitru ().