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Shadow Employment in Transition - A Matter of Choice or No Choice?

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  • Cichocki, Stanislaw
  • Tyrowicz, Joanna

Abstract

Shadow employment may follow from two main labour market failures. In the first, official market labour taxation distortions make it ineffective for some agents to engage in registered employment due to a tax wedge, which makes the revenues from unofficial employment higher than the corresponding official ones (tax evasion hypothesis). The alternative explanation draws to labour market tightness - for workers regular employment may be unattainable, which results in seeking earning opportunities beyond the boundaries of the official labour market (market segmentation hypothesis). We use a unique data set from a survey on undeclared employment. Using propensity score matching and decomposition techniques we demonstrate that workers of the shadow economy are characterized by slightly higher endowments, while their revenues are considerably lower than among the matched official economy counterparts. Although unobservable heterogeneity is considerable, results are robust and point to social exclusion and the market segmentation hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Cichocki, Stanislaw & Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2009. "Shadow Employment in Transition - A Matter of Choice or No Choice?," MPRA Paper 15464, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:15464
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Péter Elek & János Köllő, 2019. "Eliciting permanent and transitory undeclared work from matched administrative and survey data," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 547-576, August.
    2. Jacek Liwiński, 2022. "Informal employment and wages in Poland," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(6), pages 1196-1220, January.
    3. Joanna TYROWICZ & Piotr W�JCIK, 2009. "Some Remarks On The Effects Of Active Labour Market Policies In Post-Transition," Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Financial Management and Accounting Craiova, vol. 4(2(8)_ Sum).
    4. Novkovska, Blagica, 2017. "Regional Development Disparities And Their Connection With Hidden Economy," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 8(2), pages 151-158.
    5. Maciej Beręsewicz & Dagmara Nikulin, 2018. "Informal employment in Poland: an empirical spatial analysis," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 338-355, July.
    6. Novkovska, B. & Novkovski, N., 2018. "Energy consumption and hidden economy in Macedonia: Causes and responses," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 166-181.
    7. Anna V. Tikhonova, 2021. "Key Issues of Taxation of the Self-Employed in the CIS Countries," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 6, pages 81-97, December.
    8. Aleksandra Fedajev & Milica Arsiæ, 2017. "Drivers of shadow economy in transition countries during the post-crisis period: The results of structural model," Proceedings of FIKUSZ 2017, in: Monika Fodor (ed.),Proceedings of FIKUSZ '17, pages 20-34, Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management.
    9. Novkovska, Blagica, 2016. "How Strongly The Hidden Economy Of A Small Country Can Be Influenced By Drastic Events: Case Of Macedonia," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 7(2), pages 187-195.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    undeclared employment; propensity score matching; transition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • P37 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Legal
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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