IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fau/fauart/v58y2008i1-2p68-81.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Small Businesses and the Shadow Economy

Author

Abstract

This paper investigates causalities between small businesses and the shadow economy in ten New Member States of the European Union in the years 2000–2005. The transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, with deregulation and privatization of economic activities, has yielded new opportunities for small businesses, new entrepreneurial ideas, and new income sources in these countries. Yet, rigid legislation, high tax wedges, and transaction costs of government institutions have increased the incentives for people to take their work into the shadow economy. To account for the simultaneity and latent variable effects we apply the instrumental variables econometric approach to study the association between small business and the shadow economy. We find that these variables are (weakly) negatively correlated, implying that the macroeconomic environment and institutional framework have improved, encouraging entrepreneurial activities while somewhat impeding the further development of the shadow economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Bojan Nastav & Štefan Bojnec, 2008. "Small Businesses and the Shadow Economy," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 58(01-02), pages 68-81, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:fau:fauart:v:58:y:2008:i:1-2:p:68-81
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journal.fsv.cuni.cz/storage/1106_str_68_81_-_nastav-bojnec.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    2. Ertugrul Deliktas & Mehmet Balcilar, 2005. "A Comparative Analysis of Productivity Growth, Catch-Up, and Convergence in Transition Economies," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 6-28, January.
    3. Bartelsman, Eric & Haltiwanger, John C. & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2004. "Microeconomic Evidence of Creative Destruction in Industrial and Developing Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 1374, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Bardsen, Gunnar & Eitrheim, Oyvind & Jansen, Eilev S. & Nymoen, Ragnar, 2005. "The Econometrics of Macroeconomic Modelling," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199246502, Decembrie.
    5. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2005. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521848053.
    6. Isabel Grilo & A. Roy Thurik, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the Old and New Europe," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: Enrico Santarelli (ed.), Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Innovation, chapter 0, pages 75-103, Springer.
    7. Ruta Aidis, 2003. "Entrepreneurship and Economic Transition," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-015/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    8. Ali F. Darrat & Khaled Elkhal & Brent McCallum, 2006. "Finance and Macroeconomic Performance. Some Evidence for Emerging Markets," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 5-28, May.
    9. Jay Pil Choi & Marcel Thum, 2005. "Corruption And The Shadow Economy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 46(3), pages 817-836, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jože Kocjancic & Stefan Bojnec, 2011. "Analisys of the Shadow Economy in the Wood Industry," MIC 2011: Managing Sustainability? Proceedings of the 12th International Conference, Portorož, 23–26 November 2011 [Selected Papers],, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper.
    2. Jarle Aarstad, 2012. "Do Structural Holes and Network Connectivity Really Affect Entrepreneurial Performance?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 21(2), pages 253-268, September.
    3. Merike Kukk & Karsten Staehr, 2014. "Identification of Income Underreporting by the Self-Employed: Employment Status or Reported Business Income?," TUT Economic Research Series 8, Department of Finance and Economics, Tallinn University of Technology.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Estrin, Saul & Prevezer, Martha, 2010. "A survey on institutions and new firm entry: How and why do entry rates differ in emerging markets?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 289-308, September.
    2. Barseghyan, Levon & DiCecio, Riccardo, 2011. "Entry costs, industry structure, and cross-country income and TFP differences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(5), pages 1828-1851, September.
    3. Sameeksha Desai & Johan E. Eklund & Emma Lappi, 2020. "Entry Regulation and Persistence of Profits in Incumbent Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(3), pages 537-558, November.
    4. Axel Dreher & Friedrich Schneider, 2010. "Corruption and the shadow economy: an empirical analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 215-238, July.
    5. Reeg, Caroline, 2015. "Micro and small enterprises as drivers for job creation and decent work," IDOS Discussion Papers 10/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    6. Braunerhjelm, Pontus, 2010. "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth - past experience, current knowledge and policy implications," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 224, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    7. Gabriel Felbermayr & Julien Prat, 2011. "Product Market Regulation, Firm Selection, And Unemployment," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 278-317, April.
    8. Estrin, Saul & Korosteleva, Julia & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2013. "Which institutions encourage entrepreneurial growth aspirations?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 564-580.
    9. André Stel & David Storey & A. Thurik, 2007. "The Effect of Business Regulations on Nascent and Young Business Entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 171-186, March.
    10. Peter Egger & Christian Keuschnigg & Hannes Winner, 2008. "Incorporation and Taxation: Theory and Firm-level Evidence," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2008 2008-20, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    11. Henry van der Wiel & Harold Creusen & George van Leeuwen & Eugene van der Pijll, 2008. "Cross your border and look around," DEGIT Conference Papers c013_005, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    12. Andre van Stel & David Storey & Roy Thurik, 2006. "The effect of business regulations on nascent and actual entrepreneurship," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2006-04, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    13. Iwasaki, Ichiro & Maurel, Mathilde & Meunier, Bogdan, 2016. "Firm entry and exit during a crisis period: Evidence from Russian regions," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 162-191.
    14. Meghana Ayyagari & Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2021. "Are large firms born or made? Evidence from developing countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 191-219, June.
    15. Philippe Aghion & Thibault Fally & Stefano Scarpetta, 2007. "Credit constraints as a barrier to the entry and post-entry growth of firms [‘Dualism and macroeconomic volatility’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 22(52), pages 732-779.
    16. Stephen Dobson & Carlyn Ramlogan-Dobson & Eric Strobl, 2020. "Savings and the informal sector," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 217-234, March.
    17. Havrylchyk, Olena, 2012. "The effect of foreign bank presence on firm entry and exit in transition economies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1710-1721.
    18. Levon Barseghyan & Riccardo DiCecio, 2009. "Entry costs, misallocation, and cross-country income and TFP differences," Working Papers 2009-005, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    19. Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Is entrepreneurship necessarily good? Microeconomic evidence from developed and developing countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(6), pages 1453-1495, December.
    20. Fabio Schiantarelli, 2005. "Product Market Regulation and Macroeconomic Performance: A Review of Cross Country Evidence," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 623, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 04 Aug 2008.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    small business; self-employment; shadow economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • L29 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Other
    • K49 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fau:fauart:v:58:y:2008:i:1-2:p:68-81. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Natalie Svarcova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/icunicz.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.