IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iez/survey/ces-v21_1-2019_franic.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Undeclared Economy in Croatia during the 2004–2017 Period: Quarterly Estimates Using the MIMIC Method

Author

Listed:
  • Josip Franic

    (Institute of Public Finance, Zagreb, Croatia)

Abstract

Even though Croatia is among the most active EU countries when it comes to tackling undeclared economic activities, not much is known about the effectiveness of numerous policy measures introduced since joining the EU. As there is no systematic approach toward quantification of the undeclared economy in the newest member state, this paper fills the gap by presenting a tailored and robust procedure based on the Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC) method. The methodology developed is then applied to assess the magnitude of the phenomenon in Croatia for the 2004–2017 period. The analysis reveals that the undeclared economy in Croatia has remained rather stable during the last decade and a half, with its value added ranging between HRK 24.1 and 26.9 billion. Accounting for 7.8 percent of the total GDP in 2017, undeclared undertakings represent a significant obstacle, which should therefore be systematically addressed. What is more, the findings indicate a rising trend, thus challenging the efficiency of the current policy approach by the Croatian government.

Suggested Citation

  • Josip Franic, 2019. "Undeclared Economy in Croatia during the 2004–2017 Period: Quarterly Estimates Using the MIMIC Method," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 21(1), pages 5-46, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:iez:survey:ces-v21_1-2019_franic
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/323358
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon Johnson & Daniel Kaufman & Andrei Shleifer, 1997. "The Unofficial Economy in Transition," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(2), pages 159-240.
    2. Sethuraman, S. V.,, 1976. "Urban informal sector : concept, measurement and policy," ILO Working Papers 991667413402676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Marijana Baric & Colin C. Williams, 2013. "Tackling the Undeclared Economy in Croatia," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 11(1), pages 7-36.
    4. Mihails Hazans, 2005. "Latvia: Working Too Hard?," Labor and Demography 0506008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Schneider,Friedrich & Enste,Dominik H., 2016. "The Shadow Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316600894.
    6. Torgler, Benno, 2011. "Tax morale, eastern Europe and European enlargement," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5911, The World Bank.
    7. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kaliberda, Aleksander, 1996. "Integrating the unofficial economy into the dynamics of post-socialist economies : a framework of analysis and evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1691, The World Bank.
    8. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    9. Bojan Nastav & Stefan Bojnec, 2007. "Shadow Economy in Slovenia: The Labour Approach," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 5(2), pages 193-208.
    10. Charles Woolfson, 2007. "Pushing the envelope: the `informalization' of labour in post-communist new EU member states," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 21(3), pages 551-564, September.
    11. John Round & Colin C. Williams & Peter Rodgers, 2008. "Corruption in the post-Soviet workplace: the experiences of recent graduates in contemporary Ukraine," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 149-166, March.
    12. Torgler, Benno, 2011. "Tax morale and compliance : review of evidence and case studies for Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5922, The World Bank.
    13. Marty Chen, 2005. "Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-10, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Tedds, Lindsay, 2005. "The Underground Economy in Canada," MPRA Paper 4229, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Josip FRANIC, 2020. "Why workers engage in quasi-formal employment? Some lessons from Croatia," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 11, pages 94-112, December.
    2. Franić Josip & Kojouharov Anton, 2019. "Informal payments by patients in Croatia: benign custom or detrimental residue from socialism?," Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 5(2), pages 49-63, December.

    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. Colin C. Williams & Friedrich Schneider, 2016. "Measuring the Global Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16551.
    2. Pasovic Edin & Efendic Adnan S., 2018. "Informal Economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina – An Empirical Investigation," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 112-125, December.
    3. Colin C. Williams & Jan Windebank, 2011. "Regional Variations in the Nature of the Shadow Economy: Evidence from a Survey of 27 European Union Member States," Chapters, in: Friedrich Schneider (ed.), Handbook on the Shadow Economy, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Colin C. Williams, 2014. "Confronting the Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15370.
    5. Colin C Williams & Junhong Yang, 2017. "Tackling falsely-declared salaries in Bulgaria: evidence from a 2015 survey," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 3, pages 333-351, September.
    6. Williams Colin, 2009. "Evaluating the Extent and Nature of ‘Envelope Wages’ in the European Union: A Geographical Analysis," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 115-129, June.
    7. C. Williams, Colin & Bezeredi, Slavko, 2017. "Tackling The Illegal Practice Of Under-Reporting Employees’ Wages: Lessons From The Republic Of Macedonia," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 8(3), pages 243-258.
    8. Rafaela Bastidas & Nicolás Acosta, 2019. "Misallocation and manufacturing TFP in Ecuador: formal, semi-formal and informal firms," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-29, December.
    9. Schneider Friedrich & Buehn Andreas, 2017. "Shadow Economy: Estimation Methods, Problems, Results and Open questions," Open Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-29, March.
    10. Friedrich Schneider & Andreas Buehn & Claudio E. Montenegro, 2011. "Shadow Economies All Over the World: New Estimates for 162 Countries from 1999 to 2007," Chapters, in: Friedrich Schneider (ed.), Handbook on the Shadow Economy, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Omodero Cordelia Onyinyechi, 2019. "The Financial and Economic Implications of Underground Economy: The Nigerian Perspective," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Sciendo, vol. 8(2), pages 155-167, July.
    12. Friedrich SCHNEIDER, 2016. "Estimating the Size of the Shadow Economy: Methods, Problems and Open Questions," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 256-280, June.
    13. Friedrich Schneider, 2017. "Shadow Economies around the World: New Results for 158 Countries over 1991-2015," Economics working papers 2017-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    14. Paraskevi Koufopoulou & Colin C. Williams & Athanassios Vozikis & Kyriakos Souliotis, 2019. "Shadow Economy: Definitions, terms & theoretical considerations," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(5), pages 1-3.
    15. Feige, Edgar L., 2015. "Reflections on the meaning and measurement of Unobserved Economies: What do we really know about the “Shadow Economy”?," MPRA Paper 68466, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Klarita Gërxhani, 2004. "The Informal Sector in Developed and Less Developed Countries: A Literature Survey," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 120(3_4), pages 267-300, September.
    17. Njoya, Loudi & Ngouhouo, Ibrahim & Asongu, Simplice & Schneider, Friedrich, 2022. "The role of economic prosperity on informality in Africa: evidence of corruption thresholds from PSTR," MPRA Paper 119059, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Colin. C. Williams, 2008. "Illegitimate wage practices in Eastern Europe: - The case of 'envelope wages'," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 13(3), pages 253-270.
    19. Florencia Verónica Pedroni & Anahí Briozzo & Gabriela Pesce, 2019. "¿Por qué no declarar todo? Determinantes de la subfacturación empresarial en la Argentina," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4186, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    20. Abbi M Kedir & Meryem Duygun Fethi & Colin C Williams, 2011. "Evaluating tax evasion in the European Union: a case study of the prevalence and character of ‘envelope wage’ payments," Discussion Papers in Economics 11/33, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, revised Jun 2011.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    undeclared economy; non-observed economy; MIMIC; labor input method; Croatia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

    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:iez:survey:ces-v21_1-2019_franic. 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: Doris Banicevic (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eizgghr.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.