Embedding informality into sustainable development indices for 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, Fisciano, Italy
Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu: Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Department of Statistics and Econometrics, Romană Square 6, Romania and National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, Bucharest, Romania
Eduard Mihai Manta: Doctoral School of Cybernetics and Statistics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romană Square 6, Bucharest, Romania
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Roberto Dell'Anno

Baltic Journal of Economics, 2025, vol. 25, issue 1, 90-111

Abstract: This paper proposes a new sustainable development index incorporating informality measures for 36 European countries from 2010 to 2022. This index is estimated via a combination of national accounting, macroestimates of informality, and survey data through partial least squares (PLS) regression, drawing on Eurostat, MIMIC method, and Eurobarometer data. The index is assessed within three specifications: a baseline using standard sustainable development indicators and two alternative specifications that include the informal economy and informal employment. The findings indicate that countries with larger informal economy tend to perform comparatively weaker in sustainable development metrics than those with smaller informal economy do, underscoring the importance of policies that address informality to achieve inclusive and comprehensive sustainable development.

Keywords: Informal economy; informal employment; sustainable development; composite indicators; PLS regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/1406099X.2025.2488719 (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:bic:journl:v:25:y:2025:i:1:p:90-111

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Baltic Journal of Economics from Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Anna Zasova ().