Estimating the Size of the Shadow Economy: Methods, Problems and Open Questions

Friedrich Schneider () and Andreas Buehn

No 9820, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper presents various methods for estimating the size of the shadow economy and analyzes their strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it demonstrates that no ideal method exists to estimate the size and development of the shadow economy. Because of its flexibility, the MIMIC method used to get macro-estimates of the size of the shadow economy is discussed in greater detail. Secondly, the paper focuses on the definition and causal factors of the shadow economy and provides a comparison of the size of the shadow economy using different estimation methods.

Keywords: advantages and disadvantages of the measurement methods; methods to estimate the shadow economy; MIMIC approach; shadow economy estimates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E26 H11 H2 H26 K42 O17 O5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2016-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-iue and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

Published - published as 'Shadow Economy: Estimation Methods, Problems, Results and Open questions' in: Open Economics, 2018, 1, 1-29

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Related works:
Journal Article: Estimating the Size of the Shadow Economy: Methods, Problems and Open Questions (2016)
Working Paper: Estimating the Size of the Shadow Economy: Methods, Problems and Open Questions (2013)
Working Paper: Estimating the Size of the Shadow Economy: Methods, Problems and Open Questions (2013)
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