Assessment of the shadow economy in the Republic of Moldova: Theoretical grounding and practical results of the input-output model

Assessment of the phenomenon of shadow economy represents an actual challenge for researchers from all over the world. The current paper aims to make a theoretical grounding and assessment of the shadow economy in the Republic of Moldova. Research is based on the use of the input-output model, which, through its evaluation function estimates the main macroeconomic indicators and allows assessing the shadow economy. The research is based on the analysis of 18 official documents provided by the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova, the State Tax Service of the Republic of Moldova, the National Agency for Regulation in Energy, etc. The main findings present considerable losses of the state budget in 2018 (3.02% of GDP), while the agro-industrial complex registering the highestdetected values of the shadow economy.