Tax Evasion and the Informal Economy in Greece: A Systematic Review

This study investigates tax evasion and the informal economy in Greece through an integrated research design that combines bibliometric analysis with large-scale survey data to examine both the structure of scholarly discourse and public perceptions of economic non-compliance. The analysis integrates a bibliometric analysis of the academic literature with survey data from 1074 respondents, enabling patterns of scholarly attention to be assessed alongside public evaluations of institutional performance and economic behavior. The bibliometric findings indicate that academic research is organized around Greece and the tax system as central reference points, while governance-related themes such as transparency and public policy occupy comparatively peripheral positions within the thematic landscape, suggesting a field structured predominantly around country-specific institutional analysis. The survey results reveal a broadly comparable configuration, with political institutions, corruption, and tax evasion identified among the most salient national problems. Respondents differentiate among distinct forms of economic non-compliance and attribute tax evasion primarily to systemic factors, including high taxation, perceived injustice, ineffective revenue management, and corruption, rather than to individual moral failings. Overall, tax evasion in Greece is thus evaluated predominantly in institutional and governance-related terms. Future research could extend this approach through longitudinal bibliometric mapping, multivariate survey modelling, and sectoral or regional comparative analyses.