Some economies are "black holes" where reliable data is scarce due to government control, low capacity, or conflict. Despite these challenges, researchers have found ways to gather useful information. This paper draws on the literature on North Korea to review six key methods: satellite imagery,...

Some economies are "black holes" where reliable data is scarce due to government control, low capacity, or conflict. Despite these challenges, researchers have found ways to gather useful information. This paper draws on the literature on North Korea to review six key methods: satellite imagery,...

We investigate the use of a machine learning (ML) algorithm to identify fraudulent non-existent firms. Using a rich dataset of tax returns over several years in an Indian state, we train an ML-based model to predict fraudulent firms. We then use the model predictions to carry out field...