MEASUREMENT OF THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY WITH THE HELP OF THE MANAGERS OF ECONOMIC ENTITIES

Abstract

The research uses a method based on questioning the managers of economic entities from Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia in order to try to quantify the underground economy in the period 2019-2021. This method starts with the premise that managers are among the few people who know the sources of income, the forms of pay of employees, but also know how to manage them. In order to arrive at an estimate of the underground economy, as a percentage of the gross domestic product, the method combines the estimates of the income of undeclared business, unregistered employees, undeclared salaries; at the same time we analyze the factors that influence the participation of economic entities in the underground economy. This approach is different from other studies on underground economies, which are based on the values of macroeconomic indicators.

Keywords

• underground economy
• tax evasion; managers of economic entities
• member states of the european union
• gross domestic product.