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Explaining the Undeclared Economy in Bulgaria: an Institutional Asymmetry Perspective

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  • Williams Colin C.

    (Professor of Public Policy Management School, University of Sheffield, UK)

  • Franic Josip
  • Dzhekova Rositsa

    (Marie Curie Research Fellow Management School, University of Sheffield, UK)

Abstract

This paper proposes a way of explaining the undeclared economy that represents participation in undeclared work as a violation of the social contract between the state and its citizens, and as arising when the informal institutions comprising the norms, values and beliefs of citizens (civic morality) do not align with the codified laws and regulations of a society’s formal institutions (state morality). Drawing upon evidence from 1,018 face-to-face interviews conducted in Bulgaria during 2013, the finding is that the greater is the asymmetry between formal and informal institutions (i.e., citizens’ civic morality and state morality), the greater is the likelihood of participation in the undeclared economy, and vice versa. The outcome is that tackling the undeclared economy requires a focus upon reducing this lack of alignment of formal and informal institutions. How this can be achieved in Bulgaria in particular and South-East Europe and beyond more generally, is then discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Williams Colin C. & Franic Josip & Dzhekova Rositsa, 2015. "Explaining the Undeclared Economy in Bulgaria: an Institutional Asymmetry Perspective," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 9(2), pages 33-45, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:seejeb:v:9:y:2015:i:2:p:33-45:n:5
    DOI: 10.2478/jeb-2014-0008
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Colin C. Williams & Ioana A. Horodnic, 2015. "Explaining and tackling the shadow economy in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: a tax morale approach," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 81-98.
    2. Krasniqi Besnik A. & Williams Colin C., 2017. "Explaining individual- and country-level variations in unregistered employment using a multi-level model: evidence from 35 Eurasian countries," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 12(2), pages 61-72, December.
    3. Williams Nick & Radevic Dragana & Gherhes Cristian & Vorley Tim, 2017. "The nature of corruption affecting entrepreneurship in transition economies: Some lessons from Montenegro," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 12(2), pages 20-34, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Williams Colin C, 2019. "Explaining and tackling the informal economy: an evaluation of competing perspectives," Open Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 63-75, January.
    6. Friedrich Schneider & Mangirdas Morkunas & Erika Quendler, 2021. "Measuring the Immeasurable: The Evolution of the Size of Informal Economy in the Agricultural Sector in the EU-15 up to 2019," CESifo Working Paper Series 8937, CESifo.
    7. Colin C Williams & Slavko Bezeredi, 2017. "Explaining Consumers’ Motives for Purchasing from the Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR of of Macedonia," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 4, pages 515-531, December.
    8. Williams Colin C., 2015. "Evaluating the Variations in Employment Relations Across Developing! Economies: A Degrees of Informalisation Approach," Journal of Economy and its Applications, Sciendo, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, December.
    9. Williams Colin C. & Yang Junhong, 2017. "Evaluating the Use of Personal Networks to Circumvent Formal Processes: A Case Study of Vruzki in Bulgaria," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 57-67, April.
    10. Colin Williams, 2020. "An Institutional Theory of Tax Non- Compliance in Bulgaria: a Tax Morale Approach," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 33-49, March.

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