Shadow Economies All over the World: New Estimates for 162 Countries from 1999 to 2007

Friedrich Schneider (), Andreas Buehn and Claudio Montenegro

Working Papers from University of Chile, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper presents estimations of the shadow economies for 162 countries, including developing Eastern European, Central Asian, and high-income countries over the period 1999 to 2006/2007. According to the estimations, the average size of the shadow economy (as a percentage of "official" gross domestic product) in 2006 in 98 developing countries is 38.7 percent; in 21 Eastern European and Central Asian (mostly transition) countries, it is 38.1 percent, and in 25 high-income countries, it is 18.7 percent. The authors find that the driving forces of the shadow economy are an increased burden of taxation (both direct and indirect), combined with labor market regulations and the quality of public goods and services, as well as the state of the “official” economy.

Keywords: shadow economy of 162 countries; tax burden; quality of state institutions; regulation; MIMIC and other estimation methods. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 H11 H2 H26 O17 O5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2010-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-eec, nep-pbe and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (297)

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Related works:
Chapter: Shadow Economies All Over the World: New Estimates for 162 Countries from 1999 to 2007 (2011)
Working Paper: Shadow economies all over the world: new estimates for 162 countries from 1999 to 2007 (2010)
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