Economics of the Shadow Economy.

Abstract

: The structure, size and development of the shadow economy in Switzerland is analyzed using different methods of estimation: A survey among experts, the discrepancy between various income measures, the participation rate approach, the money approaches, the structural and the causal methods. There is strong evidence that the Swiss shadow economy has grown between the end of the 50s and 1980. The size is esti ­ mated to be in the range between 3 % and 4 % of GNP in L975. Compared to other countries the shadow economy in Switzerland is estimated to be one of the smallest