Black (or shadow) economy in the systemmodern market relations is, to a certain extent, quite natural phenomenon associated with the rejection of restrictive measures. According to experts, in a transitional economy, the size of the black economy increases (up to 40-50% of GDP), this is due to the fact that market relations in the economy are accompanied by negative development of the private sector, economic growth, imperfect legislation, a temporary decline in the quality of life. In such conditions, it is obvious that it is necessary to develop an adequate approach to monitoring how the overall market relations and the black economy at the macro and meso levels correlate.
Currently, scientists have developed manyapproaches to the definition of the shadow economy and the various groups of methods for its assessment: direct, indirect, including analysis of employment, monetary methods, alternative estimates, the method of commodity flows, econometric methods. But modern market relations and the black economy are still at such a level of development that there is a multiplicity of definitions of the category of the shadow (black) economy, the unstable terminology, the heterogeneity of the quantitative estimates obtained. So, their range in the CIS countries varies between 10 and 55%, in the EU candidate countries - 10 and 22%, in developed countries - 1.2 and 17%. This is due both to differences in official policy, the scale of the informal and hidden economy, and the use of various methods of valuation, which represent modern market relations. Among these methods, the direct ones - underestimate the assessment, others, indirect, structural, as well as the methods of hidden determinants, soft modeling - are overstated.
Guidelines for the target groupEurostat, recommendations of the Statistical Committee of the CIS and other institutions of economic analysis are non-specific and reflect only the need to adhere to common definitions and classifications of black economic activity, take into account the peculiarities of the national economy, use the proposed analytical framework (definition and adjustment of the hidden, informal and illegal economy by integrated industries) , in assessing, give priority to the informal sector.
In some countries, the assessment of the black economy in general orpartially absent, only superficial calculations are carried out, private manifestations of the hidden economy are taken into account, most often such a parameter as property in a market economy and its shadow segment. A distinctive feature of most of their current assessments of this type of economy is their non-objectivity, as a rule, underestimation, the reasons for which are the objective properties of this phenomenon, which are market relations and the black economy, as well as deficiencies in statistical accounting and a deliberate desire to provide false information from respondents, derived from household sample surveys. In addition, the psychological unpreparedness of society to analyze the values of the black economy also has an effect (even if such estimates were obtained).
Long-term studies of the essence, structure,methods of measuring the shadow economy, a number of experimental calculations allowed us to formulate some general approaches to the definition of this phenomenon.
For consideration of non-observed specieseconomic activity by a number of scientists the term shadow economy was chosen as a synthesis. In terms of an unobservable, unrecorded, unregistered economy, by definition, there is already a rejection to measure these phenomena, or at least an indication of its unreliability. The term “shadow” appears to be more successful: it does not focus on the nature of the assessment, emphasizes the specific conditions for the implementation of the activity, the nature of income generation. This approach to the definition allows you to identify any unregistered economic activity. The term black, in this context, should be understood only as an ordinary interpretation of the category of the shadow economy. Modern market relations, and the black economy in its statistical dimension, require the most complete coverage and quantitative measurement of all types of shadow activity, regardless of their sources of origin.
