This dissertation thesis deals with the notion of "vekslactvi" in socialist Czechoslovakia and with a social group called "vekslaci", which orchestrated illicit trade with foreign currencies, the so called tuzex vouchers, and smuggled consumer goods. The analysis lays emphasis on the daily operations of the "veksláci" and also on the commodities which they traded. From this perspective, "vekslaci" could be treated as a driving force within the Czechoslovak black market. In addition to the basic principles of "veksl", the chapter also presents a certain typology of traffickers and mutual hierarchical links within this specific community. The lifestyle of the "vekslák subculture" is also a subject of historical reconstruction as the thesis seeks to place "veksláci" in the context of the Czechoslovak society before 1989. The thesis also deals with the social and economic circumstances that enabled the birth of a peculiar social group of "vekslaci". Among others, it focuses on the role of the Tuzex hard currency shops, which was introduced in order to sell (mostly imported) consumer goods in exchange for foreign currencies or special vouchers. Attitude of the Czechoslovak state regarding the issue of "veksláctví" is also a subject of analysis. The research focuses on legislation, which gradually...

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the impact of the electronic records of sales (ERS) implemented on December 1, 2016, in the Czech Republic. The ERS orders given entrepreneurs to use special cash boxes and to send data about single sales to the Financial Authority immediately after each transaction. Experience shows that the ERS reduced tax evasion and the shadow economy. This thesis fills a gap in literature as no study has yet examined the impact of ERS on macroeconomic variables - gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, unemployment rate and harmonized consumer price index (HCPI). To analyze it, I apply SCM by Abadie and Gardeazabal (2003), Abadie et al. (2010) and Abadie et al. (2015) that proposes the way how to evaluate the impact of political interventions using a quantitative approach. Using data from the Eurostat and OECD databases from Q1 2004-Q3 2019, the method allows me to construct a counterfactual outcome for GDP per capita, unemployment rate and HCPI in the absence of the implementation of the ERS. I also apply the extension of original SCM - generalize synthetic control method by Xu (2017) and augmented synthetic control method by Ben-Michael et al. (2018) as robustness checks. Moreover, the interference procedures include the modified confidence interval by Firpo and Possebom...

The study aims to investigate the impact of natural resource wealth on the shadow economy. The theoretical section provides the basis of understanding the nature of two phenomena and discusses the possible transmission channels through which natural resources might influence the shadow economy. Consequently, the key determinants of the shadow economy are examined by static and dynamic models. Natural resource abundance is proxied by natural resource rents. We employ a panel data set for 109 countries for the period from 1996 to 2006. The results reveal that resource wealth is associated with the decrease of the shadow economy. This result is robust for different resource types (durable and non-durable), and the effect is more profound for countries with a low income level. JEL Classification C33, E26, O13 Keywords natural resources, shadow economy, dynamic panel data models, system GMM estimator Title Natural Resource Curse and Shadow Economy: Empirical Evidence

Tiesą sakant, priklausomybė nuo pinigų ir valdžios yra dvi pagrindinės priežastis neskaidriam ekonominiam sektoriui susiformuoti. Kad ir kaip bebūtų keista, gyvenimo faktas – tas, jog dideliam pasaulio populiacijos procentui, šešėlinis verslas tampa išgyvenimo priemone, nors Lietuvos Pramonininkų Konfederacijos pareiškimu: „<...> neapskaityta ekonominė veikla, neoficialus darbas, sukčiavimas ir mokesčių vengimas ne tik kenkia šalies įvaizdžiui, ardo oficialią rinką ir konkurencingumą, bet, kartu, negailestingai griauna sąžiningą verslą<...>“. Šio darbo siekis – įvertinti ir suprasti Lietuvos šešėlinės ekonomikos poveikį verslo sėkmei arba legaliai veiklai. Atliktų tyrimų uždaviniai – interpretuoti bendrą pastarojo ekonominio reiškinio kilmės ir šaltinių analizę, apžvelgti, kaip jis atsispindi pinigų statistikoje bei kokia įtaka turi oficialiam verslui, naudojant Tanzi ir Gutmman monetarinius metodus, koreliacija bei Eilat /Zinnes regresijos funkcija. Tyrimų rezultatai apsibrėžtam periodui, nuo 1995 iki 2007 metų, parodė, jog tarp apskaitytos ir neapskaitytos ekonomikų vyrauja neigiamas ryšys, kuris išreiškia substituto efekto pozicionavimą pajamų efekto atžvilgių. Vadinasi, apskaitytoms pajamoms sumažėjus 1LT, šešėlinės pajamos išauga 16 centų. Tuo tarpu, 1LT išaugus apskaitytam BVP, neoficialusis - sumažėja 43 centais. Kitą vertus, monetarinis metodas parodė, jog šešėlinė ekonomika yra glaudžiai susijusi su oficialiais kintamaisiais, todėl norint sumažinti neapskaityto... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Actually, - addiction to money and governance are two main reasons why legal shadow economy arises. As strange it seems, it has not only negative impact, but also a positive one to the official economy. And it‘s a fact of life, that for a large part of the worlds population, the "shadow economy" has become a means of survival, while, accordingly to The Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists declaration, “<…> unaccounted economic activities, illegal jobs, cheating and tax evasion harm the state, disturb the market and competition and demonstrably ruin and discredit fair business <...>”. The aim of this work - is to evaluate and understand the impact of Lithuania's shadow economy to the official one. The main goals of the research – interpellate the analysis of shadow economy genesis and origins and review how it reflects in nummary statistics or how influence officially accounted economy, using Tanzi’s and Gutmann’s monetary approaches, correlation and Eilat/Zinnes regression function. Exploration findings for the entire period of 1995-2007 confirms, that the unrecorded and recorded economies in Lithuania are negatively related, suggesting that the substitution effect dominates the income effect. And 1 LT fall in recorded income is associated with a 16 cent increase in the unrecorded economy and that a 1LT increase in recorded GDP is associated with a 43 cent decline in unrecorded income. On the other hand, monetary approach showed that shadow economy is closely related... [to full text]

The dissertation “Informal Economic Activities” takes a comprehensive approach to the informal economy by studying traditional shadow economic activities, household DIY activities, and the smuggling of illegal and legal goods. Chapter 2 analyzes shadow economic and DIY activities and presents a dual estimation for the development of both types of informal economic activities in Germany from 1970 to 2005. It also considers the impact of German reunification on shadow economic and DIY activities and employs a proper estimate of domestic currency in circulation within Germany as an indicator variable for the shadow economy. Chapter 3 studies an informal economic activity that has attracted much attention recently: legal goods smuggling, or the illegal trade of otherwise legal goods. The main channel of this type of smuggling is the falsification of trade documents. By reporting false amounts of exports and/or imports to authorities smugglers, or trade misinvoicers, seek to avoid paying taxes and/or tariffs. Chapter 4 widens the analysis of smuggling to the smuggling of illegal goods and studies the smuggling of legal and illegal goods across the U.S.-Mexico border in order to improve the understanding of illegal trade. Studying the U.S.-Mexican case is particularly interesting as most illegal drugs and immigrants enter the United States via the Mexican border. The empirical analyses in the dissertation “Informal Economic Activities” are based on structural equation models (SEMs). The results demonstrate that the informal economy is significant and that growth of the informal economy is not exclusive to developing countries, although it is a more serious problem in these countries. Moreover, although the informal economy covers a wide range of rather diverse economic activities, the dissertation works out that a few similarities exist. These are important, especially for policymakers, in first understanding what drives informal economic activities and second designing appropriate policies to deter them.

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Institute of Economic Studies Three Essays on Labor Market Institutional Environment Dissertation Thesis Kamila Fialová Prague 2012 Abstract This thesis consists of three papers about labor market institutional environment. The first paper "Labor Market Institutions and Their Effect on Labor Market Performance in the New EU Member Countries" estimates the effects of labor market institutions on various performance indicators (unemployment, long-term unemployment, employment, activity rate) in European countries. The results confirm that high taxes increase unemployment, whereas active labor market policies tend to reduce it. The paper also shows that stricter employment protection, higher taxes, and a larger economic burden represented by the minimum wage decrease employment and activity rates. The second paper "Labor Market Institutions and Their Impact on Shadow Economies in Europe" analyzes the role of labor market institutions in explaining developments of shadow economies in European countries using several alternative measures of the shadow sector. The results indicate that the one institution that unambiguously increases shadow production and employment is strict employment protection legislation. Other labor market institutions have less...

The primary objective of this diploma thesis is to comprehensively present the issue of money laundering not only on a macro level but also in terms of commercial bank and its microeconomic response to it. The main contribution of this diploma thesis is to identify the global indicators, which should be considered when drafting strategies in the fight against the legalization of proceeds from crimes. This diploma thesis addresses the changes caused by current globalization and highlights the dangerous effects it has on evolution of this consequent criminal activity together with evaluation of its potential in the future. Due to the tense situation in Europe caused by the series of terrorist attacks, part of the work is dedicated to the explanation of the relationship between terrorist financing and money laundering.

The thesis is aimed at estimate of calculation of tax evasions at value-added tax (VAT) in the Czech Republic between 2005 and 2011. The estimates are executed on the basis of the concept of tax gap. Tax gap compares theoretically calculated tax amount with the real tax amount. Results of the calculations are compared to the results of calculations of cumulative studies of tax gap executed in the countries of European Union. The issue of grey economy is also topic of the thesis and different approaches to calculations of grey economy are mentioned. Topics like tax-evasions causes, tax-evasions types and ways of its solving follow. Conclusion of the thesis includes questionnaire survey among payers of VAT. Survey is especially aimed at tax evasions and possible solutions to them.

The difficulty of transforming war economies into peace economies has become increasingly problematic in the search for long-term peace and stability in Africa. In many African countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, conflict actors have created distinct war economies in order to maintain the conflict in these countries. The enduring nature of the war economies presents a unique challenge to actors involved in ensuring that peace returns to a country by applying a peacebuilding strategy. The economic environment during a conflict has a vast influence on a post-conflict economy and a post-conflict reconstruction strategy. Although post-war rebuilding occurred during the reconstruction of Europe and Japan after the Second World War, the terms "post-conflict peacebuilding" and "post-conflict reconstruction" have only came to prominence during the mid-1990s. Using the case study of Sierra Leone, this study explores the challenge of war economies and its impact on post-conflict reconstruction. Sierra Leone presents an appealing case study as the country experienced a very profitable war economy during the armed conflict in the country between 1991 and 2002, and continues to struggle to transform this war economy into a peace economy. The case study of Sierra Leone is well researched, however, most studies focus on the conflict period, and only briefly look at the post-conflict period. In addition, discussions of post-conflict reconstruction in Sierra Leone have failed to adequately address the challenges presented by the war economy. This study uses existing analyses about the war economy in Sierra Leone, and links these to the current post-conflict reconstruction strategy, focusing specifically on the economic dimension. Therefore, this study represents a departure from traditional approaches to exploring war economies because it considers the direct impact these economic systems have on the process of post-conflict reconstruction. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

The dissertation “Informal Economic Activities” takes a comprehensive approach to the informal economy by studying traditional shadow economic activities, household DIY activities, and the smuggling of illegal and legal goods. Chapter 2 analyzes shadow economic and DIY activities and presents a dual estimation for the development of both types of informal economic activities in Germany from 1970 to 2005. It also considers the impact of German reunification on shadow economic and DIY activities and employs a proper estimate of domestic currency in circulation within Germany as an indicator variable for the shadow economy. Chapter 3 studies an informal economic activity that has attracted much attention recently: legal goods smuggling, or the illegal trade of otherwise legal goods. The main channel of this type of smuggling is the falsification of trade documents. By reporting false amounts of exports and/or imports to authorities smugglers, or trade misinvoicers, seek to avoid paying taxes and/or tariffs. Chapter 4 widens the analysis of smuggling to the smuggling of illegal goods and studies the smuggling of legal and illegal goods across the U.S.-Mexico border in order to improve the understanding of illegal trade. Studying the U.S.-Mexican case is particularly interesting as most illegal drugs and immigrants enter the United States via the Mexican border. The empirical analyses in the dissertation “Informal Economic Activities” are based on structural equation models (SEMs). The results demonstrate that the informal economy is significant and that growth of the informal economy is not exclusive to developing countries, although it is a more serious problem in these countries. Moreover, although the informal economy covers a wide range of rather diverse economic activities, the dissertation works out that a few similarities exist. These are important, especially for policymakers, in first understanding what drives informal economic activities and second designing appropriate policies to deter them.