Transformation of Shadow Economy in the Sphere of Online Activities

Abstract

The article is aimed at researching the directions and features of the transformation of Ukraine’s shadow economy in the sphere of online activities. The general tendencies of its development are defined on the basis of different approaches and methodologies to determine the level of shadowing of the national economy (the Putnins and Sauka methodology - sample survey of enterprises using the micro-macro modeling approach); methodologies of calculating the volume of the shaded economic activity (integral indicator of the level of the shadow economy, «population expenditures - retail turnover»; unprofitability of enterprises, electric and monetary methods), as well as the volume of budget losses from various tax abuses. It is determined that although there are some differences between the results of the research using these methods, all of them confirm the fact that Ukraine has a huge shadow sector. It is proved that over the past decade the sphere of shady relations has significantly expanded, spreading to the online environment. Today, shadow activities are carried out through the Internet, covering areas of the real economy, such as gambling business, fast credits to the population, trade in alcohol, tobacco and narcotics. In addition, cybercrime has also become a real shadow economy. On the Darknet market, you can now buy almost everything from stolen credit card data to malicious code to infect computers. It is substantiated that shadow activities both in the real sector of the economy and online leads to negative socio-economic consequences for the State and society, and therefore requires the development of a system of measures to ensure the curtailment of such activities.

Keywords

• shadow economy
• online activity
• level of shadowing
• valuation methods
• illegal business
• digitization of the economy
• shadow online market