This study examines the emergence of international hidden entrepreneurs (IHEs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through an institutional theory lens. An international hidden entrepreneur arises when local regulations impose high costs on an international entrepreneur operating as the legal head of...

Widening income disparities, higher corruption and larger informality in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDE) including Latin America, all with pressing and mounting fiscal problems, have rekindled interest in the empirical analysis of the key factors determining the occurrence...

The present work investigates the effect of institutional quality on Africa's underground economy, as well as the mechanisms that modulate this effect. Considering cross-sectional dependency between panels, this study considers data of 41 African countries from the period 1996 to 2017 and the...

The paper aims to assess the wage differential that would induce workers to switch between informal and formal sectors, analysing the informal labour market in the Colombian Caribbean region. Relying on the theory of equalising differences, we uncover which workers perceive the highest utility...

This paper uses the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) approach to determine the annual size and growth of the hidden economy in Jordan for the period 1980-2018. We find that the key causal variables of the hidden economy in Jordan are: female labor force participation, the inflation...

Using an enhanced MIMIC method, this paper presents new and long-run estimates of the Informal Economy (IE) for 152 countries from 1997 to 2022. We address several limitations found in previous estimates of the IE, notably issues surrounding the missing values, time-invariant country...

This scoping review systematically examines the definitions, challenges, and methodologies for estimating the illegal gambling market, spanning literature from 2000 to 2023. Given the clandestine nature of illegal gambling and its significant economic and social implications, understanding its...

The shadow economy's size and impact remain subjects of extensive research and debate, holding significant implications for economic policy and social welfare. In Lebanon, the ongoing crisis since 2019 has exacerbated severe economic challenges, with the national currency's collapse, bank...

The objective of the study was to determine the size of Ghana's "underground economy" and the extent of tax evasion in Ghana. The underground economy in most countries is vital because it serves as a survival place for most people. However, their activities are mostly related to tax evasion...

Purpose This article examines the effect of China's soft power projection through the Chinese media in Africa on the African audiences' perception of China's national image through a case study of the residents of Nairobi. It adopted Joseph Nye's soft power model and sought to address three...

The article presents a method for balancing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) when the measurements of its components are distorted by the existence of the shadow economy. Our proposal to measure GDP is based on a multiple ultrastructural model (MUM), where the explanatory variables are subject to...

Using an enhanced MIMIC method, this paper presents new estimates of the Informal Economy (IE) for 110 countries from 1997 to 2022. We address several limitations found in previous estimates of the IE, notably issues surrounding the missing values, time-invariant country characteristics, and...

This study investigated the impact of mobile financial services on the shadow economy in Southern Africa countries and explored how regulatory quality moderates this relationship. Utilising panel data from 1993 to 2022, this study employed dynamic common-correlated effect (DCCE) and dynamic...

Legal and illegal markets often coexist. In theory, marginal legalization can either substitute for the remaining parallel market, or complement it via scale effects. I study migrants crossing without prior authorization at the US southwest border, where large-scale unlawful crossing coexists...

How do minimum wages affect earnings inequality in countries with large informal sectors? I provide reduced-form evidence that the 2000s minimum wage hike in Brazil raised overall inequality by increasing inequality inside the informal sector. I develop a model where heterogeneous firms select...

This study aims to bridge the gap in the existing literature by examining the impact of prevailing traditional slavery institutions and democratization processes on human capital development. In our pursuit, we conducted a residential survey in Sumba Island, Indonesia. Notably, despite...

The goal of the article is to explore the potential of explicatory Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and its specifications for measuring the shadow economy (SE). This is done from the perspective of various approaches in selected countries. The article is a review and conceptual paper. The...

The study investigates the determinants of tax revenue in Zimbabwe using the ARDL approach for the period 1980 to 2022. This study aims to offer a thorough summary of the different factors that influence tax revenue within the framework of economic and social factors. The variables included in...

This paper focuses on analyzing the impact of the shadow economy on economic growth in ASEAN countries. In particular, the authors examine the role of institutional quality in the effects of the shadow economy on economic growth, which means that this study is different from previous studies....

This paper explores the relationship between the informal sector and financial inclusion for a sample of 186 countries across the period 2004-2018 and using various methods of estimations—ordinary least squares, instrumental variables, fixed effects, and general method of moments. The results...

We examine the crime-unemployment relationship in 26 EU countries and the possibility of potential asymmetries developing in the presence of labour market policies and/or that of certain structural characteristics. We find that the, otherwise well-established, relationship is strongly moderated...

This paper investigates the relationship between institutionalized democracy and the shadow economy in both the long- and short-run. Using time series data from Uganda that cover the period from 1991 to 2015, this paper applies auto-regressive distributed lag method to investigate this...

Using time series data from Uganda covering the period from 1991 to 2017, this paper applies ARDL bounds testing approach to examine the long- and short-run relationship between education and the shadow economy. We find evidence of the long-run relationship. The results indicate that an increase...

We investigate the size and trends of the informal economy (IE) in ten Balkan nations from 1996-2021 using the MIMIC model. Our findings reveal a consistent decline in the IE in our sample, albeit it remains substantial, exceeding 29% (of GDP) in 2021. We also explore the impact of the COVID-19...

Purpose of the research is consist of exposing of genesis of hidden economy and determining of evolution and recent tendencies of researches of hidden economy.Historical succession method and interdisciplinary approach with together general-theoretical scientific methods were used in this...

Objective: The article aims to indicate the determinants of informal employment in registered enterprises using company-level evidence from Poland. Research Design & Methods: The survey conducted among Polish small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises in 2018 was used to find the driving forces of...