Presenting the results of the shadow economy survey in Ukraine while reflecting on the future(s) of informality studies

Polese A. Marco Moisé G. Lysa O. Kerikmäe T. Sauka A. Seliverstova O.
2022 Taylor and Francis Ltd.

Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe
2022 #30 Issue 1 101 - 123 pp.

Reflecting on the results of the shadow economy survey, as conceptualized by Putnis and Sauka and implemented in Ukraine in 2019 for the first time, the goal of the current article is two-fold. First, it offers an overview of the results for the years 2017 and 2018 and estimates the shadow economy in the country at 38.3% of GDP for 2017 and 38.5% for 2018. Second, it suggests possible advantages in the use of direct methods to estimate the level of the shadow economy in a country and explore the motives pushing entrepreneurs to remain in the shadow. The discussion is then framed to conceptualize the distinction between shadow economy and informality. We conclude by suggesting that a better understanding of the entangled relations lying behind the reasons to stay in the shadow can help us better address the issue and propose measures that could help bring business out of the shadow.

governance , informality , shadow economy , Ukraine

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School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
Chair of Political Science and Political Technologies, Al Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Tallinn University, Institute of Social Studies, Tallinn, Estonia
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv, Ukraine
Department of Law, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Riga, Latvia

School of Law and Government
Chair of Political Science and Political Technologies
Tallinn University
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
Department of Law
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

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