The Grey Economy of Post- Communist New EU Member States: Case of Bulgaria

• Authors: Lijo Raju Philip
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

The grey economy relates to activities that are not declared to the authorities for tax, social security or labour law purposes and have been widely recognised to have negative effects on society and the functioning of the market economy. In the light of persisting high unemployment and the economic recession across Europe, the grey economy has come under intense scrutiny as national governments try to balance budgets while avoiding increases in taxes and benefit cuts. On average across Europe, the shadow economy is as large as 18.5% of economic activity. In Eastern European nations such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, and Estonia, the shadow economy is almost 30% of the size of the official economy. Bulgaria, the focus of this report, is increasingly included in international and European studies on the size and nature of the undeclared economy. Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and ranks as the EU member state with the largest undeclared economy, estimated at 31% of GDP in 2013 [Schneider 2013]. Despite intensified repressive and control efforts on the part of the Bulgarian authorities, the high level of the grey economy signals deficiencies in the functioning of the public institutions and the rule of law, and continues to be a major obstacle to economic development.   Szara strefa ekonomiczna dotyczy wszelkiej działalności gospodarczej, która nie jest deklarowana właściwym urzędom skarbowym w celu osiągnięcia korzyści wynikających z uniknięcia płacenia podatku, uzyskania zasiłku lub ominięcia przepisów prawa. Jest ona szeroko uznawana za sferę mającą negatywny wpływ na społeczeństwo i funkcjonowanie gospodarki rynkowej. W warunkach utrzymującego się wysokiego bezrobocia i recesji w szeregu krajów europejskich szara gospodarka znalazła się w centrum uwagi rządów starających się zbilansować swoje budżety, unikając przy tym podnoszenia podatków i cięć wydatków na cele publiczne. Szara strefa ekonomiczna stanowi średnio aż 18,5% całej gospodarki w Europie, natomiast w takich krajach wschodnioeuropejskich jak Bułgaria, Chorwacja, Litwa i Estonia sięga ona prawie 30%. Obecna analiza koncentruje się na Bułgarii budzącej rosnące zainteresowanie w kontekście międzynarodowych, w tym europejskich, badań nad rozmiarami oraz charakterem tego rodzaju negatywnych zjawisk ekonomicznych. Bułgaria przystąpiła do Unii Europejskiej w 2007 roku i jest uważana za kraj o najwyższej niedeklarowanej działalności gospodarczej wśród państw unijnych, ocenianej na 31% PNB w 2013 roku [Schneider 2013]. Pomimo wzmożonej kontroli i karalności ze strony władz bułgarskich utrzymujący się wciąż wysoki poziom szarej strefy w ekonomii świadczy o brakach w funkcjonowaniu instytucji publicznych i regulacji prawnych oraz stanowi poważną przeszkodę rozwoju ekonomii w tym kraju.

• Publisher: Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie
• Journal: Horyzonty Polityki
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 13
• Pages: 91-112

Dates

published

2014-12-30

Contributors

author

Lijo Raju Philip

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