Baltic Journal of Economic Studies (Jun 2018)
DETERMINANTS OF SHADOWING OF THE ECONOMY: THE GENESIS OF ECONOMIC AND LEGAL DOCTRINES
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to study the genesis of economic and legal doctrines, on the basis of which it seems possible to identify the main determinants of shadowing of the economy. Analysis of problematic issues of establishing causes of existence and spread of the phenomenon of economic shadowing, which is mediated by the need for influence on them in order to neutralize, that is, the definition of the subject of administrative and legal support of counteraction is presented. It is noteworthy that neither legal nor economic science provides a single understanding of the causes of the occurrence and spread of the phenomenon of economic shadowing. Taking into account the development of economic doctrines, it is established that the reasons reflect the main features of the concept of “shadowing of the economy”. In general, the issue of preconditions for the existence of a “shadow economy” and “shadowing” is manifested in the fact that the institutionalization of informal manifestations in the economy is the basis for their legal formulation and recognition by legal economic institutions, without realizing the need to characterize shadowing as a threat. Along with this, it is necessary to recognize the starting positions and differences in the realities of modern Ukraine and the characteristics of the object of experimental study, since there are “restrictive” and “expanding” interpretations of the shadow economy and the shadowing of the economy, which identify the analysed concepts. In “restrictive” interpretations, “shadow economy and economic shadowing” are interpreted as dysfunction, deviation, pathological deviation or as a separate feature of the economic life of underdeveloped countries. By “expanding” interpretation, manifestations of these phenomena can be found in developed economic systems as a dogmatic component at all stages of the development of the economic life of mankind. The main gaps are the following provisions of the analysed doctrines, according to which the administrative management of the economy is the reason for the spread of the analysed phenomena; as a result, the main ways of eliminating the determinants are to reform management system, strengthen institutional capacities of certain bodies of state power, and so on. At the same time, under such conditions, in opposition to the shadowing of the economy, the decisive place is devoted to administrative and legal provision. The practical significance of obtained results is to formulate a hypothesis that provides a comprehensive, systematic vision of the determinants of economic shadowing, and in particular, an approach to establishing a ratio of the shadow economy and the shadowing of the economy, which will enable to identify and systematize the determinants of shadowing. At the same time, the correlation of these phenomena with general criminality, including organized crime in the sphere of economy, corruption, and other offenses in the sphere of the economy should also be taken into account. Having determined that all these phenomena are not some kind of “components”, “sources”, “sectors”, “types” of the shadow economy, namely, their commitment in the “plane” or “sphere” of the economy shadows it. Specifying the types of determinants in accordance with the above list can be recognized as the task of the corresponding sciences and should be carried out within the limits of separate researches. Methodology. The methodological basis of research is the use of the systemic method of scientific knowledge, which allowed forming an approach at which the meaning of the concepts of “shadow economy” and “economic shadowing” is formed in accordance with causes, conditions, and consequences (determinants), which respectively are a subsystem of national security. This conclusion is proved in the process of scientific research and forms the path of practical (praxeological) confirmation of the proposed hypothesis.
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