High taxes, various restrictions and greed force people to conduct their business in the shadows in order to circumvent the laws and receive excess profits. Shadow business brings significant damage to the state economy and must be actively combated.

What is the shadow economy?

Activities that develop uncontrollably and without government accounting are called the shadow economy. There are a number of reasons that provoke its appearance. The concept and essence of the shadow economy has been studied for many years, and identifying and blocking illegal activities is an important condition for the full development of society and the country. The term began to be used in 1970.

The shadow economy has close and completely legal connections with the real sector of the economy, and it also uses government services, for example, labor or various social factors. Such illegal activities help to obtain huge profits, which are not taxed and are aimed solely at their own enrichment.

Types of shadow economy

There are several types of shadow economy that form a certain structure:

White collar. This option implies that officially employed people are engaged in prohibited activities, which becomes the reason for the hidden distribution of national income. The concept of the shadow economy indicates that the subjects of such activities are people from the business community who have high positions. White collar criminals take advantage of their own official position and legal shortcomings in the legislation. Modern technologies are often used to commit crimes.
Gray. The structure of the shadow economy includes an informal type of business, that is, when activity is permitted by law, but it is not registered. It is primarily engaged in the production and sale of various goods and services. This type is the most common.
Black. This is the economy of organized crime, associated with the production and distribution of things prohibited by law (poaching, weapons, drugs).

Pros and cons of the shadow economy

The fact that illegal activities hidden from the state negatively affect a person’s standard of living and general position the country itself, many people know, but few people understand that the shadow economy, as a socio-economic phenomenon, has its own advantages. If we compare the pros and cons of such an activity, the disadvantages significantly outweigh the balance.

Disadvantages of the shadow economy

Many countries are actively fighting this problem, since it negatively affects many processes and the development of society.

Slows down the growth of economic development of the state, for example, GDP decreases, unemployment increases, and so on.
Government revenues are reduced because businesses engaged in illegal activities do not pay taxes.
Budget expenditures are being reduced and public sector workers, pensioners and other groups of people receiving social benefits suffer as a result.
The trap of the shadow economy is that it contributes to the growth of corruption, but corruption itself stimulates the development of illegal activities.

Pros of the shadow economy

As already mentioned, there are few positive sides to illegal activities, but they do exist:

The positive consequences of the shadow economy are due to the fact that such activities bring investments into the legal sector.
It is a kind of smoothing mechanism for existing surges in the economic situation. This is possible thanks to the redistribution of resources between the permitted and prohibited sectors.
The shadow economy has a positive effect on the consequences of financial crises, when there are massive layoffs of workers who can find a place in the informal sector.

Shadow economy and corruption

It has already been mentioned that these two concepts are interrelated and they are called socio-economic twins. The essence of the shadow economy and corruption are similar in reasons, goals and other factors.

Illegal activities can only develop in conditions when all branches of government and management are corrupt.
Activities outside the law contribute to the formation of corrupt relations in all areas that affect its prosperous existence.
Corruption forces illegal types of business to remain in the shadows, and it also creates the basis for the organization of new areas for shadow business.
These two concepts are the mutual financial basis of each other.

Reasons for the emergence of the shadow economy

The main factors that provoke the emergence of illegal activities include:

High taxes. It is often officially unprofitable to run a business, since everything goes to taxes.
High level of bureaucracy. When describing the causes of the shadow economy, one cannot lose sight of the bureaucratization of all processes necessary for registering and running a business.
Excessive government intervention. Many people engaged in legal business complain that the tax office often conducts audits, issues fines, and so on.
Small penalties for revealing illegal activities. The fine imposed on a person who engages in illegal activities is in most cases much less than his profit.
Frequent crises. During an economic downturn, it becomes unprofitable to conduct legal economic activity and then everyone tries to go into the shadows.

Negative consequences of the shadow economy

Illegal business is a destructive phenomenon that negatively affects the entire economic system of the state. To understand why the shadow economy is bad, you need to look at the list of negative consequences.

There is a reduction in the state budget because tax payments do not occur.
Due to the impact on the credit and financial sector, negative changes occur in the structure of payment turnover and incentives.
The consequences of the shadow economy also apply to foreign economic activity, since there is distrust on the part of foreign investors.
Corruption and abuse of power are growing significantly. As a result, the country's economic development slows down and the entire society suffers.
Many underground organizations, in order to cut costs and in the absence of funding, do not comply with environmental standards, which negatively affects the state environment.
The shadow economy is causing working conditions to deteriorate as businesses ignore labor laws.

Methods of combating the shadow economy

Coping with unofficial activity is very difficult given the scale of the spread. The fight against the shadow economy must be comprehensive and cover various aspects.

Implementation of tax system reforms that will help bring part of the income out of the shadows.
Tougher penalties for corrupt officials.
Introducing measures to return capital exported from the country and create an attractive investment climate to stop financial outflow.
Identifying industries that operate clandestinely and stopping their activities.
Increased control over cash flows, which will not make it possible to launder large amounts.
Reducing pressure on business from the state, for example, reducing the number of supervisory authorities and inspections.
Prohibition on uncontrolled provision and attraction.
Redistribution of power in the courts and other government bodies. Legislation must be tightened.

Literature on the shadow economy

Illegal types of business are carefully studied by economists, which leads to the presence of different literature on this topic.

“Shadow economy” Privalov K.V.. IN textbook a new approach to the interpretation of this concept is presented. The author explores the problem of evolution and various consequences of illegal business.
“Conditions for the effective influence of the state on the shadow economy” by L. Zakharova. The author is interested in how the fight against the shadow economy is going; the book pays attention to several methods.

The shadow economy is a very diverse phenomenon. There is still no single universal definition of the informal economy. It is not clear what exactly it includes. This uncertainty is characteristic not only of Russia, although scientific research abroad began much earlier. It is worth saying that the term “shadow economy” came to us from abroad. The economy “outside the state” attracted the attention of foreign scientists back in the 1930s. It became the subject of major research in the late 1970s and has been the subject of various international conferences since the 1980s.

There are several dozen definitions of the economic sphere “outside the state” - “shadow”, “hidden”, “informal”, “illegal”, “fictitious”, “underground”, “criminal”, etc.

The term “informal” was first used by the British anthropologist K. Hart in his studies of employment and unemployment in Ghana in 1971. He described the ability of the urban population, a large part of which was considered unemployed, to use various informal methods to increase their income. To distinguish between formal and informal activities, Hart used a criterion such as “the degree of rationalization of work, i.e. whether workers are hired on a permanent and regular basis for a fixed remuneration or not.” The conclusion of the study was that the unemployed who came to the attention of the author, in fact, were not unemployed at all. On the contrary, they worked actively, sometimes even in several jobs, and their income, being less regular and reliable than that of the permanently and officially employed, was located above and below the wage rate of unskilled workers.

Hart's research gave impetus to the study of informal activity and its social and economic role. It became clear that informal economic activity is a universal phenomenon that can be found in countries at very different levels of development, including developed capitalist countries and countries with planned economies. At the same time, there are peculiarities in the components of economies various types, which are determined by the level of economic development, the nature of the institutional environment, and the role of the state in regulating the economy.

Although the specific content of the informal economy, assessment of the role, possibility of use and eradication are very different, all its concepts have a common core, which consists in highlighting a certain specific relationship to the state and law.

Thus, the specific content of the informal economy can be determined within the framework of either the cumulative, summary method, or based on the exclusion method. The essence of the summary method is to outline as fully as possible the range of types of economic activity that should be considered informal. At the UN, specialists involved in national accounts consider the shadow economy in three, partly overlapping areas of activity, but describing a very specific, different range of phenomena:

“Hidden” (“shadow”) activity is legally permitted activity that is not officially shown or downplayed in official reporting for the purpose of evading taxes, making social contributions, or performing certain administrative duties. This activity is possible in almost all sectors of the economy.

“Informal” (“unofficial”) activity is an activity on a legal basis, but aimed at the production of goods and services to meet the own needs of households (for example, the implementation of on our own individual construction).

“Illegal” activity is associated with the implementation of a real labor process at an “illegal” enterprise, the products and services of which have effective market demand.

The exclusion method is based on excluding the sphere of formal economic activity from the entire amount of economic activity carried out in a particular economic space (usually within a particular country and national economy), and considering the resulting balance as informal.

The concept of “shadow economy” covers three relatively independent concepts that designate three corresponding sectors:

The “unofficial economy” includes legal activities related to the production of goods and services not recorded by official statistics. Such activities have become widespread in the service sector (apartment renovation, tutoring, etc.). Moreover, income recipients hide them from taxation.

“Fictitious economy” is associated with the receipt of unjustified benefits and benefits by business entities based on connections. This includes: the economy of postscripts, bribery and speculative transactions, as well as fraudulent methods of obtaining money.

“Underground economy” - all types of economic activity prohibited by law. These include: illegal production and sale of products and services; production of weapons, drugs, smuggling, maintenance of brothels; activities of persons who do not have the legal right to engage in this type of activity (lawyers, doctors practicing without a license).

There are usually three groups of factors that contribute to the development of the shadow economy.

1. Economic factors:

— high taxes (profit, income tax, etc.);

Restructuring of areas of economic activity (industrial and agricultural production, services, trade);

— the crisis of the financial system and the impact of its negative consequences on the economy as a whole;

— imperfection of the privatization process;

— activities of unregistered economic structures.

2. Social factors:

— low standard of living of the population, which contributes to the development of hidden types of economic activity;

— high level of unemployment and the orientation of part of the population to obtain income in any way;

— uneven distribution of gross domestic product.

3. Legal factors:

— imperfection of legislation;

— insufficient activity of law enforcement agencies to suppress illegal and criminal economic activities;

— imperfection of the coordination mechanism to combat economic crime.

The shadow economy gives rise to a number of consequences that negatively affect the economy of the state as a whole. Here are just a few of these consequences:

The tax base is shrinking. As a result, tax pressure on the legal sector of the economy is growing. The competitiveness of the legal economy is declining. This, in turn, pushes other economic structures to go into the shadows.

The resource provision for corruption is increasing, which leads to an increase in its scale.

Uncontrolled large financial resources make it possible to influence public policy, the media and election campaigns at various levels. This also promotes corruption.

There is a redistribution of national income in favor of the elite group, due to corruption and the control of criminal groups over the shadow economy. This leads to a strong stratification of property and increased confrontation in society.

There is a flight of capital abroad. Uncontrolled trade in low-quality goods and goods dangerous to consumers is expanding.

The difficulty of assessing the scale of the shadow economy leads to large errors in determining the most important economic and social indicators of society's development. This makes it difficult to develop the right management decisions at various levels. In addition, in the previous paragraph it was said about errors in public administration, which are caused by the presence of a developed shadow economy and an incorrect assessment of its scale.

A striking example of the large-scale development of informal relations in the economic and other spheres of a country’s life is Russia, which today has become one of the “leaders” in terms of the scale and scope of their distribution.

The emergence of the modern “shadow” economy in Russia can be dated back to the late 60s and early 70s. It was at this time that a significant increase in the needs of the population caused the growth of speculation as the original form of illegal business. The main reasons for its development are the rapid growth of income against the relatively low rate of commodity filling of the consumer market, state voluntarism in setting retail prices, which, as a rule, did not reflect the socially necessary labor costs for the production of goods, and the system of natural distribution of material goods.

The formation of the “shadow” economy took place against the backdrop of a struggle between factors both restraining and stimulating the development of these processes. The limiting factors include the following;

low degree of differentiation of the population by level of material wealth;

lack of large cash savings among the majority of the population;

strict legislation and practice of law enforcement agencies;

mass consciousness, which negatively perceives circumventing the law for personal gain;

limited requests from the population due to lack of information.

Stimulating factors include:

growing needs along with rising incomes for all segments of the population;

outstripping dynamics of income in comparison with the growth of labor productivity, relatively low growth rates in the production of consumer goods and services;

progressive growth of reliable savings among the population;

a growing desire to “reify” cash, as a way to save them from inflation;

containment of economic initiative, departure of active entrepreneurs to “shadow” business;

Criminal economy	^ Forced extralegal economy
Subjects	Traditional crime, mafia, oligarchs, corrupt officials	Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, self-employed, households
Nature of activity by goals and motives	Intentional, aimed at personal enrichment	Forced, related to survival
Methods of unfair competition	Tax evasion, market collusion, bribery of government officials, physical influence on competitors	Tax evasion
Nature of activities by consequences and extent of damage	Pronounced antisocial, criminal	Extralegal, not posing a serious threat to society
Population attitude	Negative	Sympathetic, tolerant

The degree of social responsibility of a business does not always fit into the legal framework. The state is not able to strictly establish the relationship between the level of income of owners and the level of remuneration of their employees. Often, the owners of large corporations emphasize the relatively high level of remuneration of their employees, deliberately concealing the significantly higher level of remuneration for similar work abroad.

The low level of social responsibility is also reflected in the fact that corporations use offshore zones in their activities. Formally, this does not contradict the law, but in fact, the state budget receives significant amounts less.

The damage caused to the state and society by the two identified types of the shadow economy is also incomparable. It's not just about the amount of material damage. Corruption, for example, destroys the very foundations of statehood.

Problem "forced extralegal economy" requires more careful consideration. Here I would like to once again refer to the research of the famous Peruvian scientist and public figure E. de Soto. A look at history reveals that the shadow boom in Peru began with an influx of migrants into the cities: “... in order to survive, migrants became shadow workers. If they wanted to live, trade, produce, transport, or even consume, then they, the new residents of the cities, had to do it only illegally. There was no antisocial intent in such illegality, unlike drug trafficking, theft or robbery, the goals were completely legal: to build houses, provide services, do business.”

In general, this type of shadow activity is a response of citizens to miscalculations in the economic mechanism, ignoring their needs and requirements.

In connection with the above, one cannot help but see some positive aspects of this type of shadow economy. These include, firstly, its stabilizing role: the significant size of the shadow economy in developing countries makes it possible to smooth out declines in production and crisis phenomena in world markets. Secondly, the existence of the extralegal sector makes it possible to realize entrepreneurial potential, which remains unclaimed due to the high costs of access to the legal market.

The experience of transforming states shows that during periods of social and economic crises, the shadow economy often performs constructive functions: it reduces the depth of the transformational decline, levels out sharply defined income differentiation, reduces the unemployment rate, and plays the role of a unique optimizing mechanism for economic agents for economic activity in conditions of immature market infrastructure. The two main types of shadow economy (criminal and forced extralegal) can also be divided into subtypes (or varieties).

IN forced extralegal economy can be distinguished:

the “gray” economy of small and medium-sized businesses, which are obscured by the heavy tax burden, bureaucratic obstacles and extortions, etc.;
self-employed, directly concerned with the survival of their families.

Within criminal economy stand out:

traditional criminal business;
criminal economic activities of corrupt government officials and oligarchs.

As a result, we obtain the following classification of the shadow economy (Fig.

3. Types and varieties of the shadow economy

Of certain interest are also the possibilities of classifying the shadow economy depending on the structure of entrepreneurship (small, medium-sized businesses, large capital), forms of ownership (state, municipal, private, mixed, etc.), and the scale of the damage caused. It is obvious that among the agents (participants) of the shadow economy, small businesses will be the most numerous, but in terms of economic and social damage caused to society, the leader, of course, is big capital (oligarchs).

The bulk of crimes in post-Soviet Russia are related to former or current state property. Economic crimes related to state property (manipulation of budget funds, privatization, corruption of government officials, shadow operations in foreign economic activity, etc.) are particularly dangerous not only in terms of the amount of economic damage, but also in terms of political and moral consequences.

The main types of the shadow economy should be considered the criminal economy and the forced extra-legal economy.
Varieties of the criminal economy are traditional criminal business and criminal economic activities of government officials and oligarchs.
Varieties of the forced extralegal economy are the “gray” economy of small and medium-sized businesses and shadow operations of self-employed and households.

The price of obedience to the law and the price of extralegality.

High transaction costs for the exchange of legally recorded powers prevent the powers from falling into the hands of the owners, who can use them most effectively. Does this mean that exchange does not occur at all and economic agents resign themselves to a suboptimal ownership structure? The search for an alternative solution reflects the attempts of economic agents to specify property rights and organize their exchange without the participation of the state, i.e. extralegally. This term means the refusal of individuals to use written law to organize everyday activities and turn to unwritten law, i.e. norms fixed not in laws, but mainly in traditions and customs, as well as alternative mechanisms for resolving conflicts regarding exchange and protection of property rights 1. Thus, economic agents avoid falling into a deadlock situation when the state cannot, during the initial specification of property rights, allocate it to the potentially most effective owners, and the exchange of powers is impossible due to prohibitively high transaction costs.

There are many known examples of the coexistence of legal and extra-legal systems of property rights. In a command economy, despite the nationwide nature of property enshrined in law, the main powers were actually in the hands of the bureaucracy, both party and administrative (ministries, central administration) 2 . Accordingly, there were alternative conflict resolution mechanisms, which took the form bidding And transactions, where the subject of exchange was not only goods and services, but also “position in society, power and subordination, laws and the right to break them” 3 . An even more striking example of dualism is provided by the economies of Peru and other Latin American countries, where the state legal system and the property rights it protects underlie only a small part of transactions. As E. de Soto showed, the activities of entire sectors of the economy - retail trade, public transport, construction, etc. – is regulated on the basis of an extra-legal system of property rights 4. For example, the construction of a new multi-storey residential building in the capital of Peru, Lima, begins not with obtaining permission from the mayor’s office, but with the seizure of a site for construction according to the principle of first came – first served. Subsequently, the property right thus established is protected by social sanctions and customary law, rather than by legally recorded property titles.

1.1. The price of obeying the law

The main reason for extralegal economic activity is the high transaction costs associated with acting within the law. Using the classification of transaction costs discussed in the previous lecture, we note that we are mainly talking about the high costs of concluding a contract, the costs of specification and protection of property rights, and the costs of protection from third parties. However, E. de Soto proposes to combine these costs into one term "the price of obedience to the law." The price of obeying the law includes 5:

costs of access to the law – costs for registering a legal entity, obtaining licenses, opening a bank account, obtaining a legal address and performing other formalities;

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Moscow State Law Academy

Abstract on economics on the topic:

Shadow economy in Russian Federation

AZAZELLO

Chapter 1. Definition of the shadow economy and the form of its manifestation. 3

Chapter 2. The mechanism of functioning of the shadow economy. 5

Conclusion. 8

References.. 9

Chapter 1. Definition of the shadow economy and the form of its manifestation.

In addressing this issue, first of all, one should understand the meaning of the term “Criminal Economy” itself. The most common opinion on this matter is that the shadow economy is an economic activity that contradicts this legislation, i.e. it represents a set of illegal economic activities that fuel criminal offenses of varying degrees of severity.

In addition, this term can also be understood as production, consumption, exchange and distribution of material goods uncontrolled by society.

In fact, all these definitions are correct, since they characterize the shadow economy from various aspects and do not contradict each other. Thus, the shadow economy breaks down into several blocks:

1. Unofficial economy. This includes all legally permitted types of economic activity, within which the production of services and goods is not taken into account by official statistics, and the concealment of this activity from taxation.

2. Fictitious economy. These are postscripts, thefts, speculative transactions, bribery and all kinds of fraud associated with the receipt and transfer of money.

3. Underground economy. It refers to types of economic activity prohibited by law.

The objective reason for the rapid growth of the shadow economy in Russia is the transition from a bureaucratic, command system of management to a market one. A change in the social system is accompanied by a change in the old morality. At the same time, the shadow economy must be based and develop from specific sources.

The first of them is the notorious export abroad of capital, raw materials and energy resources (according to authoritative experts, this is about $30 billion a year), while the bulk of the transactions are not literally shadow, i.e. carried out legally: raw materials and energy resources are often sold abroad at reduced prices through intermediary companies, and a corresponding percentage of the latter’s profits ends up abroad.

The second and main source of the shadow economy is economic activity unregistered by government agencies, which takes place in all spheres of the economy. For example, how can numerous segments of the population survive over the course of 5-6 years of reforms, whose incomes turned out to be (according to official statistics) significantly below the subsistence level?

According to official statistics, the standard of living of the population in Russia in 1995 relative to 1991 was 60%. Moreover, in 1995 alone, real wages decreased by 25%. Meanwhile, the number of cars in private ownership has not decreased, but the number of foreign cars has increased: in 1995 alone, 400 thousand cars were imported into Russia. This statistics can only be explained by the presence of the shadow factor.

Globally, the share of the shadow economy is estimated at 5-10% of the gross domestic product. Thus, in African countries this figure reaches 30%, in the Czech Republic - 18%, and in Ukraine - 50%; The share of the shadow economy in Russia's economic turnover is 40%.

The figure of 40-50% is critical. At this point, the influence of shadow factors on economic life becomes so noticeable that the contradiction between the legal and shadow ways of life is observed in almost all spheres of society.

A key sign of shadow activity can be considered evasion of official registration of commercial contracts or deliberate distortion of their content during registration. In this case, cash and especially foreign currency become the main means of payment. In resolving business issues, so-called “showdowns” predominate.

A peculiar superstructure of the shadow economy are purely criminal elements, simply put, criminals.

In the middle are the shadow business executives. These include entrepreneurs, merchants, financiers, industrialists, small and medium-sized businessmen. These people are the “engine” of economic activity, and not only illegal ones.

The third group is represented by hired workers, both physical and intellectual labor. They may be joined by corrupt government officials, in whose income (according to some sources) up to 60% comes from bribes.

Of course, this division is to a certain extent arbitrary and not controversial, but it covers about 30 million of the country’s active population.

The common interest for all layers of the “pyramid” is to obtain additional income outside the “legal field”. There are also general forms of realizing interests. Thus, the export of capital abroad is inherent in everyone. True, representatives of the criminal and middle levels do this mainly through illegal transactions with raw materials and strategic materials, with imported goods, with investments, and with the forgery of payment documents. Experts estimate the capital exported through the efforts of these strata alone to be $300 billion. Hired workers can only offer “brains” and labor for export.

Criminal structures operate primarily in the sphere of redistribution of income, which is obtained through non-economic methods, mainly through violence - from blackmail to hired murder.

Representatives of the middle class, as a rule, are initially the legal owners of the income generated. And only in the future, due to the will of circumstances, are the income from taxation “taken away”. Often, it is impossible for them to do otherwise: the application of existing fines and penalties jeopardizes the existence of their own business. They involve representatives of criminal structures in the role of judge-arbitrators for the execution of transactions. After all, the transactions are not registered, which means that it is impossible to formally appeal to the arbitration court in case of failure to fulfill the agreement.

The criminal layer of the “pyramid” is objectively interested in the existing conditions under which the shadow economy is gaining strength. Because its representatives control up to 90% of enterprises and organizations. (This work is pure plagiarism. The student simply downloaded it from the Internet. The work itself was prepared by a student of the Moscow State Law Academy. Dear teacher, appreciate this “creativity of your student. Let him understand that you need to at least read what you are downloading!) And this is the main field to obtain illegal income. In order to preserve this situation, bribery of elected and appointed officials is used. Is this why it takes so long for the relevant laws to be considered in the legislative bodies?

Shadow business owners should not be happy with the current situation: they find themselves between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand there are criminal structures, on the other there are law enforcement agencies. Moreover, they are responsible to each other for fulfilling the terms of the deal.

Objectively, hired professional workers now find themselves in worse conditions. In developed countries, wages at the main place of business account for 70-80% of an employee’s income, but in Russia it is only about a third. The increased influence of criminal elements cannot suit hired workers either. Payment for “roofing” automatically increases the price of goods and services by 30%. And serious according to the consumer’s budget.

Chapter 2. The mechanism of functioning of the shadow economy.

The functioning mechanism of the shadow economy can be divided into two large classes. These are the main and auxiliary mechanisms.

The first, main one, presupposes the presence of an “object of exploitation,” with the state or a large enterprise acting as a “cash cow.”

Relevant diagrams:

First: Limited liability partnerships (or closed joint-stock companies, etc.) are created at the enterprise, the founders of which include senior employees of the base enterprise. The purchase of resources, equipment, and components is carried out through the mediation of these partnerships so that the resources are more expensive for the enterprise than with direct supplies, but the members of the partnership increase their income as a result.

The scheme is symmetrical, operating in both directions - the sale of surplus raw materials and supplies to third parties is also carried out through the mediation of these organizations, which also have their own percentage of income.

Second: A certain commercial structure rents production facilities from the base enterprise, producing products similar to those of the plant.

The number of workers involved in this structure in one way or another includes employees of the plant’s sales departments, who forward the most profitable orders to the “parallel enterprise.”

Third: The base enterprise is an NGO or research institute that receives funds for research work from the state budget. These funds are transferred from the enterprise's budget account to the deposit account of a commercial bank. After the expiration of the period determined by the deposit agreement and the time of implementation of the research work plan, the money is paid to the real performers (who previously worked without payment), the budget and deposit accounts are “cleared”, and the deposit interest is transferred to the appropriate commercial structure where they were involved. called “scientists”.

The three schemes of mechanisms noted above cover operations to conceal income received from state taxation. Here, in fact, the “ends” of the above transactions are lost: turning into cash or currency, income is invested in real estate and personal property, and transported abroad.

This range of transactions is difficult to record and study, and the rapid development of a new domestic banking system is directly related to servicing such transactions.

The current level of business activity does not allow the majority of industrial, construction and transport enterprises to at least maintain production capacity. An attempt to include the costs of maintaining and operating them in the price of products leads to a sharp rise in price, as a result of which orders for the production of services through “small enterprises” operating at the base enterprise have become almost official practice. This is the current mechanism for “tradition” of basic income.

The general structure of any financial and economic group conducting joint “shadow” activities usually includes:

— enterprises engaged in trade, intermediary and production operations;

- “security service”;

What does each of these elements represent? The same business activity is usually carried out Russian entrepreneurs through several companies. This helps solve the problem of temporary insolvency of their partners: non-payments are “dumped” to one of the enterprises, which specializes in “clearing up” them. In addition, with the help of a branched structure, it is easier for the main group of owners to control the behavior of their partners (reorganizations and redistribution of property in groups occur regularly).

The bank allows you to quickly transfer non-cash money into cash and vice versa, not to mention other transactions.

The “security service” has different forms: these are ordinary security guards, and sports sections financed by the group, and the “roof” of government authorities. In addition, most groups in one way or another strive to act as co-founders in public organizations and the media, which is regarded as extending concern for their safety to the sphere of public opinion.

Connections can also be different. In this capacity are: ordinary (direct or distant) relatives, former joint work in party, Komsomol organizations and government bodies, fraternities, ethnicity.

The structures of the “shadow economy” are, in principle, not economic in the full sense, i.e. focused on maximizing consumer satisfaction at minimal manufacturer costs. They are more like a miniature state. This is evidenced by the presence of bodies similar to the Central Bank and “power ministries”, duplication of enterprises that are engaged in the same operations, etc.

The roots of the growth of the shadow economy developed in the 80s, during the time of the final degradation of the administrative system. The new generation of Russian political leaders has exchanged “power for property.” There is no reliable analysis on this matter, however, if we accept such a hypothesis as a working one, then this way of management that destroys the national economy becomes more understandable.

Behind the debates of recent years about reforms and counter-reforms, about the fact that transformations are going badly or have stopped altogether, society misses the completely obvious reality of the formation of a system of highly criminalized economic relations, characterized by a number of characteristics.

This is, first of all, the huge weight of the “shadow” sector, the huge role of informal and extra-legal relations.

This is the formation in the economic sphere of clans - stable power and economic structures that have a “roof” in the form of one or another state authority, managing large sums of capital accumulated in various ways and conducting large-scale commercial activities. However, the consequences of the emergence of such clans are the blocking of competition in financial markets, in the markets of main groups of goods, and even in foreign trade.

Another sad consequence of the formation of clans - a narrow stratum of people who appropriate colossal incomes - is the impoverishment of a huge part of the population.

The fourth consequence is the redistribution of national income in favor of the elite group. We see how it is growing, while the economic spheres that ensure the well-being of the majority of the population (health care, education, etc.) are declining.

The fifth consequence is the flight of Russian capital abroad.

This entire system is being steadily reproduced today, and the main mechanism of its reproduction is associated with the fact that the formed clans actually dictate their terms in making national economic and political decisions. And those enterprises that, as expected (in a market economy, operate at their own peril and risk, are law-abiding and regularly pay taxes, without having a “roof” in government structures and law enforcement agencies) are doomed to bankruptcy.

The fact that the entire state apparatus is subordinate to the interests of selected clans is evidenced by the government policy of budget expansion, public debt, as well as privatization policy, which is clearly done at the request of specific commercial structures. In this situation, the entire budget is aimed at serving relevant interests. The fact is, on the one hand, a huge overexpenditure of budget funds in comparison with the legally established limits for servicing the state apparatus and for providing government loans. On the other hand, there are constantly underfunded expenditures on socio-cultural needs, healthcare and defense.

This kind of economic system does not represent anything fundamentally new in economic history. Its analogues exist in the Philippines, Mexico, and Colombia. And world experience shows that it is very difficult to get out of such a trap.

Conclusion.

The information provided represents an average overview of the scale of the shadow economy, but even these data make it possible to understand how strongly the shadow economy impacts all areas of our lives.

Summing up the above, I would like to emphasize that in the conditions of the absurd economic system that has developed in our country, the shadow economy simply could not help but arise.

Two types of action are needed in relation to the shadow economy. On the one hand, they have to “fight” it, and this is the function of law enforcement agencies, which they must perform as best as possible. On the other hand, introduce a “shadow” into standard sizes through legalization, and in such a way that it benefits domestic production.

Today's economic policy towards entrepreneurs is expressed very simply: “We will put pressure on you, and you survive as you wish.” Therefore, the entrepreneur faces a dilemma: either break the law or go bankrupt.

Shadow economy - the concept and essence of the shadow economy

And to prevent the shadow economy from growing, it is necessary to achieve significant changes in economic policy that will ensure normal conditions for the functioning of domestic producers.

Bibliography

1. “Shadow economy” / Bunich A.P. , Gurov A.I. and others / M.: Economics, 1991.

2. Yashin A. “Confrontation” / “Economy and Life”, No. 41, 1996.

3. Ponomarev P. “The shadow face of banking secrecy” / “Economy and Life”, No. 39, 1996.

4. Ispravnikov V.O. “Shadow capital: confiscate or amnesty?” / “Economy and Life”, No. 24, 1996.

5. Orekhovsky P. “Statistical indicators and the shadow economy” / REJ, No. 4, 1996.

Shadow economy and its structure

Shadow economy is a structure of economic relations that covers unaccounted for, unregulated and illegal types of economic activity. In every country there is a component of economic activity that does not fit into established and legalized norms. This sector of the economy is different countries called differently: in French literature - “underground”, “informal” economy; in Italian – “secret”, “underwater”; in English – “unofficial”, “underground”, “hidden”; in German – “shadow”.

In Germany, only financial secret transactions were initially classified as the shadow economy; others believe that the shadow economy primarily covers criminal activity; still others believe that the shadow economy as a special sector is formed by all those who evade paying taxes.

At the UN, national accountants divide the shadow economy into three types of activity: hidden (or shadow), informal (or unofficial) and illegal.

Hidden characterizes legally permitted activities that are not officially disclosed or are underreported for the purpose of tax evasion.

Informal operates legally and is aimed at producing goods and services to meet households’ own needs (for example, carrying out individual construction on their own).

Illegal is an activity that is carried out by hired workers without a legal contract.

The structure of the shadow economy in Russia is usually divided into three types of activities.

Unofficial economy covers legal activities related to the production of goods and services not recorded by official statistics. Such activities have become widespread in the service sector (renovation of apartments; provision of housing in resort areas; preparation of students for admission to higher education institutions, carried out privately without legal registration of contracts, etc.). At the same time, recipients of income hide them from taxation.

Fictitious economy– this is an activity that is associated with the receipt of unjustified benefits by business entities. These include:

registrations carried out by heads of enterprises in the public sector of the economy;
corrupt practices;
fraudulent ways to get money.

Underground economy These are types of economic activity prohibited by law. These include:

illegal production and sale of products and services;
production of weapons, drugs, smuggling, maintenance of brothels;
activities of persons who do not have the legal right to engage in this type of activity (doctors, lawyers practicing without a license).

Subjects of the shadow economy in Russia. The entire shadow economy, based on the nature of its connection with production, can be divided into two parts:

the first is the one that is involved in the production of goods and services;
the second is the one that functions in the sphere of redistribution of goods and services created outside this sphere.

In addition, in accordance with the types of the shadow economy, three types of its subjects can be distinguished.

The first group of subjects includes the most criminal elements of the shadow economy: drug and weapons dealers; bandit robbers; hired assassins. This also includes corrupt government officials who take large bribes and trade in government positions and interests. These elements, according to various estimates, account for from 5 to 25% of the entire shadow economy.

The second group of subjects consists mainly of shadow business owners. These include entrepreneurs, merchants, bankers, industrialists and farmers, small and medium-sized businessmen, including “shuttle traders” (organizers of their own business). The latter form a huge army. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, in 1996 they operated absolutely 30 million flights to foreign countries. If we assume that everyone made an average of three trips per year, then the total number of “shuttles” is approximately 10 million.

After 1998, the shuttle business declined sharply. Now, an increasing part of the goods purchased by the same “shuttles” enter Russia through cargo carriers and, when crossing the border, undergo standard “customs clearance” procedures. This group of subjects is forced to go into the “shadow” mainly because the costs of their activities under the existing rules and laws of the economic game exceed the corresponding benefits and income.

"Shuttles" there are the following:

Small “shuttle” - amount from up to 4 thousand. As a rule, he sells his goods himself.
The average “shuttle” leaves with an amount of up to thousand. When returning, he takes only part of the goods with him, and sends the rest with a cargo company (cargo carrier). Usually has hired workers who sell goods in markets and work for a percentage of sales. Can also hand over goods for sale.
Large "shuttle". Has stable contacts with foreign companies. He usually works according to samples, does not carry large sums of cash, since he makes payments through banks (albeit according to “shadow” schemes). All ordered goods are sent with freight companies. In Russia he does not sell at all and, as a rule, has a number of his own retail outlets.
Shadow economy

The share of the former in the early 1990s. prevailed. Then it began to shrink. After 1998, the flow of commercial tourists decreased significantly.

The third group of subjects is represented by hired workers of both physical and mental labor. They may include both small and medium-sized civil servants, whose income, according to available estimates, comes from bribes up to 60%. For this category of persons, unregistered activity is secondary (informal) employment.

Peculiarities of behavior of certain groups of subjects of the shadow economy. Firstly, criminal structures, as a rule, act, unlike shadow businessmen, in the sphere of circulation during the distribution and redistribution of income. The main ways they “appropriate” part of this income are non-economic forms associated with violence: extortion; blackmail; providing a so-called roof to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs for a fee; various methods of threats up to contract killings.

Shadow business executives are the legal owners of the generated income. They only further divert part of the income from the laws and regulations.

Typically, such steps are a forced measure due to: failure to fulfill accepted obligations by partners; practiced outright deception when making transactions; using forceful methods of doing business, etc.

Secondly, the behavior of shadow criminal groups is due to disordered economic conditions. The more confusion in the economy, the weaker the government, the better for them. Such business conditions in Russia have allowed criminal structures to take control of up to 90% of enterprises and organizations that form the main field for generating criminal income. To maintain this situation, bribery of officials is actively used, and organized crime is spreading.

Shadow businessmen, on the contrary, are interested in weakening the influence of criminal elements: only payment for “roof” leads to an increase in the price of goods and services by about 30%, which leads to a significant decrease in the income of shadow businessmen. The position of shadow business owners is complicated by the fact that they are under pressure from two sides. On the one hand, criminal structures encroach on the income of shadow business owners, forcing them to violate legal business norms in order to maintain the maximum level of income; on the other hand, they are under the supervision of legal authorities designed to suppress various types of violations.

Thirdly, the behavior of individual groups of the shadow economy is different. Shadow criminals of the first criminal group prefer illegal (or semi-legal) methods of “laundering” criminal money, since their legalization inevitably leads to the discovery of all criminal activities. Representatives of the second group are interested in legalizing their income by changing existing legal norms and laws.

As a result, laundering of “dirty” money and the legalization of shadow businessmen are intersecting, but not identical processes. If the former border on the criminal world, then the latter can mainly be attributed to minor deviations from the law, which are overcome by changing certain business norms.

Interests and nature of the emergence of shadow structures

The economic theory of crime and law enforcement began to take shape in the late 1960s. as a response by economists to the sharp increase in crime in Western countries. The American economist G. Becker is rightfully considered the creator of the new theory. In his article “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach,” published in 1968, he outlined the basic principles of a new approach to the study of crime and the fight against it. His idea was that the legal system of society is a field of confrontation between rational offenders and defenders of order. Potential criminals prudently weigh the possible income from the crime, comparing it with the possible losses from punishment. They choose the type of activity (legal and illegal) that maximizes their well-being. Law enforcement officers behave just as rationally. They choose methods of fighting crime that would minimize the cumulative damage to ordinary members of society.

Typically, the scale and dynamics of the shadow economy are determined by the following factors:

These general factors can be further detailed. The most important provisions affecting the expansion of the shadow economy are:

a) the severity of taxation;
b) reduction in the amount of income received;
c) increase in unemployment;
d) unjustified strengthening of government restrictions on business activities;
e) disorder in the economy;
f) lack of a clear legislative framework.

The nature of the illegal economy. The essence and nature of the emergence of the illegal economy was most accurately established by the leading Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. In this regard, he formulated the following fundamental provisions:

The illegal economy is a spontaneous and creative reaction of the people to the inability of the state to satisfy the basic needs of the impoverished masses.

The black market is the reaction of the masses to a system that has traditionally placed them in the position of victims of a kind of legal and economic apartheid. The system invents laws that make the natural desire of the people to have a job and a roof over their heads impossible. Under these conditions, the masses stop obeying the laws; take to the streets to sell what they can; open their own stores; where there is no work, they invent it, learning to do things that most people had no idea about until then.

Those involved in shady activities fare better when they break the law than when they respect it. It can be argued that illegal activity flourishes if legal restrictions exceed some socially acceptable level and the state does not have sufficient coercive power.

Personalities themselves are not “shadows”; their actions and activities are shadow ones. Those who operate illegally do not constitute a particular sector of society. People flee to the shadow economy when the costs of complying with the law exceed the benefits of complying with it.

Having established the causes of the phenomenon, we can define the shadow economy as a refuge for those for whom the costs of complying with existing laws when conducting normal business activities exceed the benefits of achieving their goals, and this concept characterizes primarily the institutional framework that defines the boundaries of illegal economic activity.

It is known that the size of the shadow economy is very difficult to determine. Shadow businesses do not tell statistical authorities what their economic turnover is. The revolution occurred in 1993, when, according to the new version of national accounts approved by the UN, all states were recommended to take into account the shadow economy in production volumes.

Since then, the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation began to master methods of its accounting. In 1995, the share of the shadow economy in Russia was estimated at 20%. In 1996 it amounted to 23% of GDP. According to expert opinions, the share of the illegal sector in Russia is at least 40%. In Western countries it is officially estimated at 5-10%. In Russia, the shadow economy began to spread in 1988, when deregulation of production began, and since 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet economy, it has acquired the widest proportions. The State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation established that the size of GDP during the reform period decreased annually by 9-10%. The share of the shadow economy by sector of the national economy is shown in Fig. 32.1.

Shadow economy and corruption

The shadow economy is directly related to corruption, which over time turns into a specific tool for the emergence of powerful mafia formations. The economic literature formulates the stages of the emergence of such criminal structures.

At the first stage, bribery of officials is used in order to involve them in illegal activities.

At the second stage, organized criminal groups use bribed officials to establish full or partial control over certain state-owned enterprises or organizations by creating various types of commercial structures on their basis.

At the third stage, criminal groups, using corrupt connections, “pump state funds into these structures” - receiving illegal loans and subsidies from the budget, appropriating foreign currency earnings from the sale of commodity resources abroad.

As a result, a banal bribe, defined in the dictionary by S.

I. Ozhegova as “money or material assets given to an official as a bribe, as payment for criminal actions punishable by law,” is supplemented in modern conditions by new, outwardly completely legal, methods of remuneration for shadow services. These include: financing of political parties and companies, gigantic fees “for lectures and consultations”, issuing interest-free long-term loans for opening bank accounts, transferring shares to relatives of officials, creating various kinds of funds to which huge amounts of money are officially transferred, guaranteeing officials in case their resignation of highly paid positions in commercial structures.

The damage to the shadow economy is evidenced by many factors. Thus, according to the head of the Federal Service for Currency and Export Control, the volume of funds that left Russia for the West through formally legal export-import transactions, which later turned out to be fictitious, amounts to billions (“gray” money). If we add to this the actual “dirty” capital (drug dollars, proceeds from the illegal arms trade, racketeering), then, according to experts, the figure will increase to 0 billion.

Methods for measuring the shadow economy

Numerous methods for accounting and measuring the shadow economy have been developed abroad. The most commonly used methods are:

Specific indicator methods are associated with the use of any one type of activity and obtained directly or indirectly.

Direct methods involve the use of information obtained as a result of inspections and their analysis to identify discrepancies between income and expenses according to certain parameters and thus determine the volume of shadow activity.

Indirect methods are based on information from the official statistics system, data from tax and financial authorities, and include analysis of employment indicators and financial activity.

The variance method (also called the balance sheet method) is based on a comparison of indicators such as income and expenses, resources received and used. Based on the discrepancies obtained, the volumes of shadow products and hidden wages are determined.

Russia has adopted the Italian method for assessing the shadow economy, developed by the Italian Institute of Statistics ISTAT. ISTAT's basic approach to assessment is that job data collected by statisticians (censuses and surveys) are compared with relevant data from legal, tax and social security authorities, taking into account economic activity and territorial classification. The resulting units of labor and output per worker are used to calculate the output of added value, which makes it possible to adjust the volume of products underaccounted for by entrepreneurs.

In August 2001, the number of people employed in the informal sector amounted to 10 million people (Table 32.1). About 7.7 million people (77%) were employed only in the informal sector, that is, they had both their main (only) and additional work in this sector.

The size of employment in the informal sector is influenced by seasonal factors.

In the second and third quarters, employment in the informal sector is 14–15% higher than in the first quarter (mainly due to agricultural work).

In total, the informal sector covers 14–15% of the total employed population, including 11–12% who work only in the informal sector. Among rural residents, employment coverage in the informal sector of the economy ranges from 23 to 30% of the total employed rural population, among urban residents - 10–12%.

Classification and functions of markets. Illegal economy, the reasons for its occurrence. The role of the market in social production. Types of imperfect competition. Concept and types of illegal markets in the Russian Federation. Consequences of shadow markets.

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Introduction

1. Market. Market functions

4. Consequences of shadow markets

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The fifth stage in the history of domestic entrepreneurship was the most dramatic. It covered a period that lasted about 60 years: from the late 1920s to the second half of the 1980s. This was a period of undivided dominance of the administrative-command system. Entrepreneurship was practically expelled from the legal sector of the economy (except for the remnants of individual craft activities) and became illegal, moving into the shadow economy. Having become one of the components of this sector of the economy, entrepreneurial activity continued to exist on a smaller scale and with greater danger to itself.

Having gone “into the shadows,” entrepreneurs tried to realize their commercial experience through speculation under the guise of collective farm or commission trade. Enterprising workers organized private production of household items, spare parts and products. For decades, shadow companies have competed quite successfully with the public sector. For example, the state produced new equipment, but did not provide it with the appropriate infrastructure. On this basis, private car service and other types of services developed. The competitiveness of the “shadow” business was facilitated by its focus on demand, production flexibility, and high capital turnover. Asaul A.N. Organization of business activities. Textbook. St. Petersburg: ANO IPEV, 2009. - pp. 13-14

Among the many classifications of markets, we can also highlight:

· legal;

· illegal.

Due to the increase in the volume of the illegal market, there is a decrease in the volume of the legal market, this in turn raises the question of the need to increase the tax received from organizations that operate legally, and this increases the attractiveness of the shadow market. Thus, you will get a kind of vicious circle.

The purpose of this work is to examine the legal and illegal markets in our country.

Objectives of this work:

— studying the concept of the illegal economy;

— determination of the legality and illegality of markets;

— studying the effect of the functioning of shadow markets in the economy of our country.

1. Market. Market functions

In order to consider the topic of this work more broadly, it is necessary to turn to the concept of the market.

The market is an established system of economic relations that involve the exchange of goods and services. The result of these relationships is demand, supply and price.

Let's consider the main functions that the market performs:

1. The integrating function is to unite the area of production, area of consumption, intermediaries and involve them in relationships for the purchase and sale of certain goods and services.

2. The regulatory function is the influence that the market has on the economy as a whole.

3. The incentive function is to stimulate production to produce products that will be produced at the lowest cost.

4. The controlling function lies in the fact that the market is the main controller of the quality of the final production results.

5. The intermediary function ensures a meeting between economically isolated producers and consumers for the purpose of exchanging the results of labor.

6. The information function lies in the fact that the market processes a huge amount of information and presents final data on the conditions under which the purchase and sale of goods and services occurs.

The role of the market in social production:

— providing information for production about: what, in what volume and in what structure should be produced;

— accompanies the balance of supply and demand;

— differentiate commodity producers in accordance with the efficiency of their work and focus on covering market demand.

Market classification:

— by market objects: market of goods and services, capital market, labor market, financial market, information market;

By geographical location: local, regional, national, global;

- according to the functioning mechanism: free competition market, monopolized market, regulated market;

- according to the degree of saturation: equilibrium market, deficit market, excess market;

- in accordance with current legislation: legal market, illegal market.

All of these types of markets are interconnected and form an integral market system.

2. Illegal economy. The reasons for its occurrence

The shadow economy (in the narrow sense) is the activity of producing ordinary goods and services, permitted by law and carried out by producers entitled to do so, but deliberately hidden from government authorities in order to evade taxes, social security contributions, compliance with legal regulations and standards (regarding safety, environmental protection, etc.).

Hidden production can also take place in enterprises (small and large) that partially conceal their products and income. The shadow economy is studied at the global, macro and micro levels, as well as in the institutional aspect. At the level of the global economy, international shadow relations are considered (for example, drug trafficking, money laundering obtained by criminal means). Chernenko V.A. International Business. Textbook / Ed. Doctor of Economics, prof. V.A. Chernenko. SPB.: St. Petersburg State University service and economics., 2011, - p. 35-36

Components of the illegal economy:

· unofficial (legal activity without recording the production of goods and services);

· fictitious (postscripts, bribery and other fraud);

· criminal.

The following components of the price of illegality are distinguished:

— costs associated with avoiding legal sanctions;

— costs associated with the transfer of income;

— costs associated with evading payroll taxes;

— costs associated with the lack of legally recorded property rights;

— costs associated with the inability to use the contract system;

- costs that are associated with the exclusively bilateral nature of the illegal transaction;

— costs of access to illegal conflict resolution procedures.

In other words, we can safely say that there is a direct relationship between the high cost of obeying the law and the scale of the shadow economy.

The economic rationale for the emergence of illegal markets lies in the problem of competition in the market system. The shadow economy here acts as one of the types of imperfect competition, which violates both legislative and moral and ethical norms.

Another reason for the emergence of the shadow sector of the economy is the unequal development of market sectors, as well as inflation and jumps in exchange rates.

3. Concept and types of illegal markets in the Russian Federation

The illegal market is a system of relations that run counter to the legislation established in our country and connect consumers and sellers of various goods and services. The illegal market is a basic component for the shadow economy.

From the point of view of economic content, goods markets, service markets, and work markets are classified.

Depending on what products are presented on the market, they are distinguished:

· a market where legitimate goods and services that satisfy normal needs are sold;

market where prohibited goods and services are sold:

— drug markets;

- prostitution market;

- slave trade market;

— market for prohibited trade in animals;

- market for stolen goods.

· market for criminal services.

Factors that predispose to the development of illegal markets:

— the presence of a legal ban on the circulation of goods, the sale of services, the performance of work (narcotic drugs, transplants, stolen property, laundering of criminally obtained proceeds);

— the presence of barriers to market access established by law (state monopoly, licensing, age restrictions for minors in the labor market, copyright, intellectual property protection (patent, trademark));

— state regulation of prices (establishing maximum prices, limiting profitability, establishing a fixed exchange rate at a level below the equilibrium);

— high level of taxation and other costs associated with the fulfillment of statutory obligations;

— insufficient rigidity of state control, the inability of the state to implement a legal ban or comply with regulatory requirements.

— the incapacity of state institutions for regulating the market, ensuring property rights, and contract discipline (for example, the ineffectiveness of the judicial system for resolving disputes and executing court decisions related to the collection of debts gives rise to a market for criminal services for “knocking out” them).

Consequences of shadow markets

The shadow economy has an extremely negative impact on the economy of our country.

First of all, it is worth noting that the shadow economy negatively affects the state treasury, and most of all, budget revenues at all levels. In this regard, there is a decrease in the amount of funding for the army, defense, medicine, science and other areas of life.

A number of negative consequences can be identified that affect the economic system of the Russian Federation:

1. The tax base is being reduced. In this regard, there is an increase in tax pressure on the legitimate economic sector.

2. There is a decrease in the competitiveness of the legal economic sector. In this regard, the transition of legal economic structures to the shadow economy is possible.

3. The corruption component of the economic system is increasing.

4. Uncontrolled large financial resources make it possible to influence public policy, the media and election campaigns at various levels. These factors stimulate the development of corruption.

5. There is a redistribution of national income in favor of the elite group of society. This causes severe division of property and increases social opposition.

6. There is a flight of capital outside the state.

7. The volume of sales of goods of low quality and even dangerous to human health is growing.

Due to the fact that it is almost impossible to estimate the volume of the shadow economy, difficulties arise in determining the most important indicators regarding the economic and social spheres of society. Therefore, often the chosen management decision may be incorrect.

Conclusion

The problems of the shadow economy attracted the attention of researchers back in the 30s. At the end of the 70s, serious research appeared in this area. In domestic science and economic practice, interest in the problems of the shadow economy arose in the 80s. The reason for this is the increasing role of the shadow sector in the economy and the desire of the country's leadership to stimulate scientific research aimed at identifying deformations and discrediting the command socio-economic system of state socialism.

To date, no generally accepted universal concept of the shadow economy has been formulated.

The variety of positions is due, as a rule, to differences in the nature of the theoretical and applied problems solved by the authors, as well as in the methodology and research methods. Ilyin B.V. Shadow economy: Educational and methodological manual for specialty 021100 “Jurisprudence”. - Vologda: VIPE of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, 2008. - p. 5

In our country, the shadow economy is currently very developed, while there is an inability of the government to exercise strict control over the shadow market.

Today, the shadow economy is a very poorly studied subject. Its presence is quite easy to determine, but it is almost impossible to measure its volume, due to the fact that information regarding this issue is confidential.

shadow market competition public

Bibliography

1. Asaul A.N. Organization of business activities. Textbook. SPb.: ANO IPEV, 2009.

2. Ilyin B.V. Shadow economy: Educational and methodological manual for specialty 021100 “Jurisprudence”. — Vologda: VIPE of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, 2008.

3. Krasavina L.N. Scientific approaches to assessing the scale of the shadow economy and their impact on Russia’s national security. / Scientific approaches to assessing the scale of the shadow economy in the financial and credit sector and measures to reduce them. - M.: Finance and Statistics, 2005.

4. Popov Yu.N., Tarasov M.E. Shadow economy in the market economy system: Textbook. - M.: Delo, 2005.

5. Chernenko V.A. International Business. Textbook / Ed. Doctor of Economics, prof. V.A. Chernenko. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University of Service and Economics, 2011.

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Chapter 1. Structure of the shadow economy.

Shadow economy in the European Union and the Russian Federation.

course work, added 06/04/2010

Theory of industrial markets

The influence of institutional factors on the structure of the economy. Functions and types of competition by scale of development and certain stages of consumer choice. Trends in the development of the global metallurgical complex. Assessment of domestic and foreign markets.

presentation, added 07/17/2014

Analysis of the behavior of manufacturing companies on different types markets

The market is a certain way of coordinating the activities of participants in social production. Economics of industrial markets. Dependence of the firm's total costs on production volume. Market of imperfect (monopolistic) competition. Perfect monopoly.

test, added 04/11/2012

Competition and its role in a market economy

Competition.

The concept and conditions for the emergence of competition and its functions. Models of markets of perfect and imperfect competition. Pure competition. Competition in the Russian economy. Antimonopoly legislation and state regulation of the economy.

course work, added 10/16/2008

The essence of the shadow economy and its form and socio-economic consequences

Exacerbation of crisis phenomena in the economy and the growth of shadow processes. The concept of “shadow economy”. Shadow economy and socio-economic consequences of its development. The shadow economy exists in all areas, although its scale may vary.

lecture, added 07/01/2008

The goods market as the most important component of the overall system of aggregated markets

Concept and types of benefits: material and intangible. Consideration of macroeconomic aggregate markets and their interactions. Features of the goods market in the system of aggregated markets. The commodity market of the Russian Federation: its problems and prospects.

course work, added 07/10/2015

Types of markets and their characteristics

The advantages of a market economy in the use of limited resources. Comparative analysis of markets of perfect and imperfect competition by the number of participants, types of products, competition, conditions for exiting the industry, and availability of information.

course work, added 05/29/2009

Shadow economy in Russia

The concept of shadow economic relations. Illegal activities of enterprises. Types of the shadow economy, factors of its emergence and development in the Russian Federation. Consequences of shadow production: reduction of the tax base, increased corruption, capital flight abroad.

course work, added 05/06/2013

Structure of the shadow economy.

Thus, the shadow economy- this is a part of the economy formed by criminal (illegal) economic activity of two types - entrepreneurial and criminal, the scale of distribution of which depends on the level of economic development of the country.

Typology of the varieties of the shadow economy (Fig. 1, Table 1) according to three criteria - their connection with the “white” (“first”, official) economy, as well as subjects and objects of economic activity - identifies the following sectors of the shadow economy:

- “second”(“white collar”);

- “gray”(“informal”);

- “black”(“underground”).

Table 1.

Criteria for typology of the shadow economy

Rice. 1. Structure of the shadow economy

"White-collar" ("second") shadow economy - This is a hidden economic activity of workers of the “white” economy prohibited by law at their workplaces, leading to a hidden redistribution of previously created national income. Basically, such activities are carried out by “respectable people” from management personnel (“white collar”), which is why this type of shadow economy is also called “white collar”.

White-collar crime, for example, as interpreted by American federal courts, refers to offenses that involve damage to trade, violation of insurance and currency regulations, bribery of officials, concealment of income from tax authorities, embezzlement, postal fraud. etc.

In general, white collar crime means that:

- the subjects of this type of criminal activity are predominantly “decent” representatives of society and business circles - officials and other employees of business entities;

- criminal activity is carried out in the sphere of economics and management and uses legal economic, economic, financial activities as its basis and cover;

- these are crimes committed without the use of violence, but using economic methods, legal “holes” in the legislation, official position;

- this is a high degree of organization, multi-story criminal activity penetrating into all spheres of the economy;

— crimes are committed using the most advanced technologies, including computers and telecommunications, and the same technology makes it possible to disguise the means by which crimes are committed.

"Black" shadow economy(organized crime economy) - economic activity prohibited by law associated with the production and sale of prohibited goods and services. These are all types of activities of professional criminals that are completely excluded from normal economic life, since they are considered incompatible with it, destroying it. This is not only a redistribution based on violence - theft, robbery, extortion, but also the production of goods and services that destroy society, such as drug trafficking and racketeering.

In the economic literature they conventionally distinguish three groups of shadow economy subjects:

— first group- purely criminal elements at its top and their workforce: drug and weapons dealers, racketeers, bandits-robbers, hitmen, pimps, prostitutes, corrupt representatives of government and administration;

— second group- shadow businessmen (entrepreneurs, merchants, bankers, small and medium-sized businessmen, including shuttle traders);

— third group- hired workers of physical and mental labor, small and medium-sized government employees, more than half of whose income comes from bribes.

5. The main reasons for the existence and growth of the shadow economy are:

- government intervention in the economy.

Shadow economy. Structure and nature of occurrence

It is believed that the share of the shadow sector directly depends on the degree of government regulation, the severity of the tax burden and the efficiency of tax administration, as well as on the scale of corruption and organized crime. Going into the “shadow” is often caused by the cumbersome bureaucratic mechanism for registering a business (for example, in the late 90s, to register a company in Russia it was necessary to obtain the consent of 54 authorities, and in Finland - 5). Another reason is the reluctance or impossibility of paying taxes that are excessively high, in the opinion of economic agents. So, in Russia in the second half of the 90s. firms, while complying with the laws, had to pay in the form of taxes more than half of the newly created value, which was especially intolerable for beginning entrepreneurs in the conditions of “primary accumulation of capital.” Tax evasion was also facilitated by weak tax administration. Firms could receive individual tax breaks or pay off their obligations to the state “by agreement,” i.e. They paid as much as they thought necessary. When characterizing the reasons for the existence of the shadow economy, one should take into account national specifics, for example, the tradition of distrust of the state in Italy, which goes back to the distant past.

— crisis or depression of the national economy, which entails an increase in unemployment and a decrease in the living standards of large sections of the population. Part of the population affected by the crisis is trying to start small businesses, but in the presence of high administrative barriers (rules established by the authorities, compliance with which is a mandatory condition for conducting business activities, for example, obtaining a license to engage in this type of business) and other transaction costs when entering the market, these entrepreneurs are forced to enter into shadow relationships, for example, to run their own business without official registration. The breakdown of social relations, especially the transition from one economic system to another, leads to the fact that the economic crisis is intertwined with a social and moral crisis, which leads to the growth of the criminal segment of the shadow economy, which is what happened in Russia in the 90s. As the experience of a number of countries with economies in transition shows, as market relations crystallize and the systemic crisis is overcome, the criminal component of the shadow economy weakens.

6. The shadow non-criminal economy performs in market and especially transition economies the following functions:

— stabilizing function;

The informal (“gray”) economy makes it possible to increase the competitiveness of goods and services, as it saves on tax deductions. Tax-free income from shadow activities makes it possible to increase the standard of living of the population involved in it. In the transitional economy of Russia in the 90s. last century, shadow non-criminal incomes, including wages “in an envelope” that are not officially taken into account, were at least comparable in size to legal wages. By creating new jobs and sources of income, the informal economy, especially in conditions of economic crisis, performs the function of a social stabilizer, smoothes out excessive income inequality, and reduces social tension in society.

— destabilizing function;

Criminalization of economic activity poses a serious threat to the stability of society. Massive tax evasion gives rise to a chronic budget crisis, which is what happened in Russia in the second half of the 90s. and was one of the main causes of the financial crisis of 1998. The shadow sector in its non-criminal part is often characterized by a low technical level, which leads to deskilling of the workforce employed in it (for example, when highly qualified engineers and workers whose specialties were employed in repair and construction work were not in demand in the new conditions).

Since the scale and structure of the shadow sector largely depend on the economic policy of the state, and the expansion of this sector, despite short-term benefits, causes significant damage to society, authorities should strive to reduce it to a safe size. An important role in this is played by bringing the informal segment of the shadow economy out of the “shadow”.

To do this, the payment of taxes by participants in this segment should be perceived by them as receiving socially significant services from the state (enforcement of contracts through the court, security of person and property, development of social infrastructure, etc.). To this end, the state’s task is to create a favorable climate for legal business activity: reducing administrative barriers, establishing an acceptable level of taxation, ensuring that economic agents comply with contractual obligations, guaranteeing private property, etc. In Russia in the early 2000s. a number of reforms were carried out in this direction: the procedure for registering new companies was simplified, the corporate income tax rate was reduced (from 35 to 24%), and a number of benefits were introduced for small businesses.

Introduction

The shadow economy has received quite a lot of attention from economic researchers: international conferences, round table meetings, and numerous works by scientists are devoted to it, but the relevance of its existence and development does not decrease, but rather grows.

In conditions of an aggravated crisis situation, the results of which were a decline in production, high taxes, low wages, and a low level of business security, many business entities are forced to go into the “shadow” in order to save themselves from ruin and preserve their business. At the same time, criminal structures, taking advantage of problems in legislation, have penetrated many areas of the economy.

The shadow economy is one of the deep-rooted problems for Russian society, the state, and the economy. In Russia, its impact is large-scale and leads to various negative consequences. The importance of counteracting the shadow economy is recognized at the state level, noted in the messages of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly, and resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation.

The objectives of this work determine the overall impact of the shadow economy on socio-economic phenomena and consequences. Assessing the state of affairs on this issue, it is necessary to highlight the scale of the shadow sector, the possibility of its influence on the economy as a whole, and the regulatory and legal aspects of the fight against the criminalization of economic activity. And also study the factors of the emergence and prosperity of the shadow economy.

In connection with the assigned tasks, goals course work is to study the concept of the shadow economy, the influence of the reasons exerted by the shadow sector on the economy as a whole, as well as consideration of methods of struggle within the Russian economy.

Shadow economy: concept, essence, structure

Definition of the shadow economy and its structure

None of the existing versions of the essence of the phenomenon of the shadow economy comprehensively and systematically reveals its categorical essence; almost all definitions are characterized by one-sidedness and lack of complete coverage of the phenomenon being studied, taking into account the aspect of the inextricable interaction of the shadow economy with the legal economy. Let's focus on more complete definitions of the shadow economy.

The shadow economy is not so much a set of economic crimes committed by certain legal entities and individuals, but a complex synthetic system of socio-economic phenomena that are carried out in a special - criminal - way.

The shadow economy is a complex of socio-economic phenomena that occur as a result of criminally and administratively punishable actions carried out through various organizational and legal forms of legal entities and without them to generate income by committing violations of the law and regulations financial, trade, production and other transactions, and legal and (or) illegal activities.

The shadow economy has the following systemic properties:

· universality;

· integrity;

· connection with the external environment, manifested in the process of interaction with it through close intertwining with the official economy through legal economic structures, as well as with the institutions of the state and society;

· structurality, which consists in the presence of stable connections and relationships within the shadow economy, ensuring its integrity and identity with itself, i.e. the ability to preserve its basic properties under various internal and external changes; hierarchy (as a special case of structurality) - the arrangement of parts and elements of the shadow economy as a whole in order from highest to lowest;

· ability for self-organization and continuous development, limited inclusion in global economic relations; purposefulness and the presence of a universal functioning mechanism, consisting in the commonality of standard techniques and methods of achieving functioning goals (especially in the most dangerous sector of the shadow economy - in illegal, or criminal, business);

· the presence in one whole of two opposite principles - constructive (productive sector) and destructive (criminal sector).

The shadow economy exists in all countries, regardless of their government and socio-economic structure. Naturally, the degree of its prevalence and scale are different. One of the most common reasons for the emergence of the shadow economy is the presence of an irremovable contradiction between the objective laws of economics and their reflection in legal norms and state legislation.

No matter how the shadow economy is dissected as a phenomenon in process, it still cannot be reduced to a mechanical combination of elements, to a simple set of negative characteristics, or to certain types of economic activity or a set of economic relations.

If we analyze the shadow operations carried out by criminal groups and then generalize the results of the analysis, we can come to a common mechanism for “pumping out” funds from the official economy. For example, there is always such an element as the inclusion in the “schemes” of shadow operations of “front companies”, or offshore companies, or both. The greatest danger to society is precisely redistributive shadow operations, when funds from the official economy are pumped into the shadow economy.

The concept of “hierarchy” characterizes the developed and ordered form of the structure, its multi-level nature. Each element of the shadow economy, in turn, can be considered as a system, and the shadow economy itself represents one of the components of a broader system - the national economy.

The hierarchical structure of the shadow economy is characterized by many connections between components, the most characteristic of which are the connections of coordination and subordination. Coordination (horizontal ordering) and subordination (vertical ordering) are characteristic of the modern Russian shadow economy, therefore the shadow economy is not only hierarchical, but also a network structure.

The shadow economy acts as a self-organizing, adaptive system. It quickly adapts to external influences (the state and its law enforcement, fiscal control, supervisory and other bodies), continuously develops in accordance with general economic principles and is in harmonious balance with its environment.

We can distinguish five main stages in the evolution of the shadow economy: origin, development, maturity, decline and death, which reflect the characteristics of both the shadow economy itself and the economic system within which it operates.

In one form or another, the shadow economy is inherent in any economic system and perishes only together with it and the state, which regulates economic relations by legal norms. It will never be possible to completely destroy the shadow economy. We can only talk about reducing its scale and eliminating the most dangerous forms for society (drugs, prostitution business, trafficking in people and human organs, illegal trafficking in radioactive materials and weapons of mass destruction and other destructive types of economic activity).

The scale and nature of activities in the shadow economy vary widely - from the huge profits made from criminal enterprises (for example, in the drug business) to a bottle of vodka that is “rewarded” to a plumber for fixing a faucet. Different kinds shadow activities have qualitative differences, therefore, to properly understand the problems of the shadow economy, it is necessary to identify its main segments and sectors.

To typologize the types of shadow activities, their connections with the “white” (“first”, official) economy are considered, as well as who are the subjects and objects of economic activity (Table 1). Three sectors of the shadow economy can be distinguished:

1. “second” (“white collar”);

2. “gray” (“informal”);

3. "black" ("underground").

Table 1 Criteria for typology of the shadow economy

"Second" shadow economy- this is a legally prohibited, hidden economic activity of workers in the “white” economy at their workplaces, leading to a hidden redistribution of previously created national income. Basically, such activities are carried out by “respectable people” from management personnel (“white collar”), which is why this type of shadow economy is also called “white collar”. From the point of view of society as a whole, the “second” shadow economy does not produce any new goods or services: the benefits received from the “second” shadow economy are received by some people at the expense of losses suffered by others.

"Black" shadow economy(organized crime economy) - economic activity prohibited by law, associated with the production and sale of prohibited and acutely scarce goods and services. The “black” economy is isolated from the official economy to an even greater extent than the “gray” economy. The “black” shadow economy in the broad sense of the word can be considered all types of activities that are completely excluded from normal economic life, since they are considered incompatible with it, destroying it. This activity can be not only redistribution based on violence (theft, robbery, extortion), but also the production of goods and services that destroy society (for example, drug trafficking and racketeering). In modern literature, attention is focused primarily on the economics of organized crime and the activities of professional criminals.

This typology should not be absolute. There is no sharp line between different forms of shadow economic activity. For example, organized crime groups can “collect tribute” from informal sector enterprises and use contacts with legal entrepreneurs to “launder” their proceeds. All “shadow workers” are outside the legal norms and willingly cooperate with each other, which to a certain extent unites them in opposition to the official world. The relationship between shadow sectors is shown in Fig. 1 .

Rice. 1. Interrelation of sectors of the shadow economy

Economist Joseph Y. Stiglitz believed that firms and individuals would be able to carry out and plan their activities much better if they could correctly predict what the government was going to do. After all, the activities of the economically active part of the population depend on the state. It is the state that sets unique rules that are expressed in laws and regulations. The state also controls compliance with these “rules” by all economic entities. In essence, this is a systemic function of the state. Sometimes, in order to make big profits even through illegal means, many entrepreneurs prefer to ignore these “rules” or try in every possible way to “circumvent” these laws.

There are 3 main reasons for the emergence of the shadow economy

1. Economic reasons

The economic reason, in my opinion, is the most important factor in the emergence of the shadow economy, since it is through high taxes that stimulates the growth of the shadow economy.

A) High taxes (income, profit...)

Our state can serve as a striking example. In our country, a fairly large percentage of income is transferred to social insurance funds. Also on high level there is a value added tax. In order not to “lose” money, people hide their level of income, giving rise to a shadow economy. High taxes leave entrepreneurs no incentive for development and economic activity. This leads to degradation of the state's economic system.

B) Significant scale of the public sector in the economy; corruption.

Almost any state, with rare exceptions, when carrying out economic activities, distributes budget resources among state enterprises. Distributes subsidies, preferential loans, direct and indirect subsidies. Often these funds may not be used for their intended purpose. Sometimes these funds do not reach state enterprises at all due to corruption. Due to the preferential distribution of budget funds, controlled business structures are formed, which are created for the purpose of illegally appropriating these investment resources, legalizing them, and transferring them abroad.

C) The crisis of the financial system and the impact of its negative consequences on the economy as a whole.

Fluctuations in exchange rates, inflation, uneven development of economic sectors, inflation - all this is characteristic of a market economy. All of the above factors are a favorable basis for economic crimes. During a crisis, the shadow sector can increase several times, because during a crisis of the economic system the state cannot always organize favorable conditions for business activity.

D) imperfection of the privatization process;
D) activities of unregistered economic structures;
2. Social.
A) low standard of living of the population, promoting the development of hidden types of economic activity;
B) high unemployment and the desire of a certain part of the population to obtain funds in any way;
B) uneven distribution of gross domestic product;

Growing unemployment and long-term non-payment of wages are pushing people towards illegal employment, because this is the only way that allows them to have at least some source of income. People agree to all the conditions of illegal employment, which is undoubtedly beneficial for employers, because employees are very interested in ensuring that the employer’s shadow business remains so. Also, employers have uncontrollable power over employees, and the direct financial benefits include the fact that no taxes are required to be paid to the payroll fund.

3. Legal.
a) imperfection of legislation;
b) insufficient activity of law enforcement agencies to suppress illegal and criminal economic activities;
c) imperfection of the coordination mechanism for combating economic crime.

First of all, it should be said that the imperfection of legislation and the legal system is associated with the magnitude of transaction costs that arise in connection with the organization of legal activities. The reasons for high transaction costs and the growth of the shadow economy lie in the nominal cost of compliance with laws and regulations, the degree of detail, complexity and consistency of laws and regulations. After all, in order to organize a business activity, you first need to obtain a license, then purchase rights to own or lease land and, of course, pay all the necessary taxes - all these difficulties force entrepreneurs to organize their activities illegally, with lower transaction costs and expenses .

The reasons listed above lead to certain consequences that are reflected in various spheres of society.

The shadow economy in our time is a significant element of the economic system. Basically, the shadow economy has negative consequences, but in some cases the processes occurring in the shadow economy can have a positive impact.

We will consider these cases a little later. Now we will consider the negative consequences of shadow economic activity. The shadow economy can turn into a dominant sector of the economy, which will determine the direction of development of the entire socio-economic sphere if certain events occur. There have been cases in world history when even the authorities, state institutions, the state's law enforcement system and democratic institutions were subjected to a process of criminalization.

The socio-economic consequences of the shadow economy are as diverse as the shadow economy itself is diverse.

Let us proceed to a detailed consideration of the negative consequences of the shadow economy. In most cases, the consequences of the shadow economy are manifested in a variety of socio-economic deformations.

For example:

· Deformation of the budgetary sphere;
· Economic structures;
· Consumption patterns;
· Tax sphere;
· Impact on the efficiency of the market system and competition;
· Impact on the monetary sector;
· Impact on economic growth and development;
· Influence on investment processes;
· Influence on the system of international economic relations.

Let's look at each of these points in detail.

1. The deformation of the budgetary sphere is manifested in the reduction of state budget expenditures and the deformation of its structure.

Due to the shadow economy, budget revenues are reduced, as a result of which institutions regulating the economy (law enforcement agencies, etc.) “do not receive” part of their funding. As a result, there is a peculiar weakening of these bodies at a time when participants in economic relations need the quality activities of these bodies.

An example is the situation in the Russian Federation in 1996. In 1996, federal budget spending on the program to combat illegal activities was reduced by almost 71% of the planned volumes. In the first quarter of 1997, this program was not funded. Neither in 1996 nor in 1997 did the State Crime Fight Fund receive funds. Magazine "Expert", No. 12 (223) dated March 27, 2000.

The reduction and underfunding of social programs is one of the most significant consequences of the reduction in government spending.

As a result of the shadow economy, society is highly differentiated into layers. Most of the population lives below the poverty line. Accordingly, the population does not receive the required level of support due to cost reductions.

2. Deformation of the economic structure.

Often, criminal economic activity is considered only a consequence of the deformation of the economic structure, but it is also a factor in the deformation of the economic structure.

Let's consider some aspects of this influence:

· The shadow economy stimulates a decline in the sectors of the investment complex, since the shadow economy increases investment risks, while at the same time reducing investment activity, which ultimately reduces the demand for investment goods.
· Shadow economic activity is detrimental to real production, since it is, in most cases, located in the trading, intermediary and speculative financial spectrum.
· Criminal economic activity is focused on the development of the sphere of illegal services and goods. Sometimes a country in which the shadow economy is developed becomes dependent on it, since the shadow economy determines the participation of the state in the international division of labor.
· Also, the shadow economy forces the state to increase costs to ensure the economic stability and security of the country, as a result of which the state cannot produce certain types of goods.
3. Deformation of the consumption structure

This type of deformation is a natural consequence of criminal forms of redistribution of property and income and the expansion of markets for illegal goods and services. This type of deformation stimulates the development of sectors that serve people who have excess income from criminal activities. As a result, a change in the consumption structure is manifested. In society, the demand for resources that are aimed at satisfying the destructive needs of the population is increasing. For example, for drugs, gambling, prostitution and others.

4. Deformation of the tax sphere

Deformation of the tax sphere is manifested in the redistribution of the tax burden. As a result, budget expenditures are reduced and the tax structure changes. Due to the fact that participants in shadow economic activities often hide taxes and evade state control in every possible way, the state must make up for the missing part of taxes. In most cases, this “burden” falls on the shoulders of law-abiding taxpayers. Taxes increase and stimulate their further concealment, and ultimately strengthens the unjustified differentiation of property and taxes.

5. Impact on the competition regime and the efficiency of the market mechanism.

The effect of the illegal economy on the competition regime largely depends on the relationship between legal and illegal enterprises. On whether they are competing. Enterprises in the competing part of the Illegal sector of the economy harm the comparatively more efficient enterprises in the legal sector and, due to their relative inefficiency, reduce overall production and consumption in the country. For the same reasons, the activities of the illegal sector lead to higher consumer prices and a decrease in the quality of consumption.

6. Impact on the monetary sphere

This type of influence is manifested in changing the structure of payment turnover, stimulating inflation, changing credit relations and increasing investment risks, causing damage to credit institutions, investors, depositors, shareholders, and society as a whole.

Currency manipulation by organized crime groups for the purpose of generating illicit proceeds or for money laundering is having a detrimental effect on banking systems and exchange rates in many countries. In addition, the presence in the country of large amounts of material assets that were obtained through illegal methods creates a dependency that criminals are willing to exploit. Inflation can often be a result of the situation described above.

The shadow economy can also have a negative impact on the foreign exchange market. The reason for this is the massive conversion of income that was obtained by illegal means into foreign currency and the export of such income abroad. Participants in shadow economic relations, with the help of commercial banks, bought foreign currency at a high rate with funds received as a result of shadow economic processes.

For example, in 1992, at seven trades on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, only one of the Moscow commercial banks acquired 28% of all US dollars sold. Later it turned out that the bulk of the ruble funds used in this case were stolen.

Criminal organizations also pose a serious threat to the existence of financial and commercial institutions, both nationally and internationally. Infiltration of institutions engaged in legitimate activities, intimidation of their owners, distortion of the purposes of their functioning to such an extent that they can no longer serve the interests of the public or the interests of shareholders, and weakening of the management of such institutions can lead to the misuse of public funds. A striking example of the harm caused to both the population and the country’s economy is the activity of financial pyramids.

In an interview with Pravda, Doctor of Economics Safiullin Marat Rashitovich emphasized the significance of the damage from the activities of financial pyramids. “The active activity of financial pyramids is a sad page in the history of the Russian Federation. This is truly an absolute socio-economic evil. Damage is also caused to the state in the form of negative consequences for the development of the financial market, negative impact on financial institutions and instruments."

He emphasized that significant damage is caused to citizens in the form of loss of savings and health. Families are being destroyed because of this. Many people committed suicide because they could not accept the loss of their savings. In 2014, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 270 organizations were identified that met the criteria of financial pyramids. They caused damage to Russian citizens in the amount of about two billion rubles. About nine thousand citizens were injured. One of the results of these abuses was a sharp drop in confidence in credit institutions.

7. The impact of the criminal economy on economic growth and development

This influence is not clearly negative. The impact is multidirectional. Hiding legally permitted business activities from government control, despite the reduction in tax revenues, in some cases has a positive impact on economic growth. This situation is possible if the state unreasonably strictly regulates the economic activities of citizens and adheres to a conservative direction. After all, often shadow economic activities give rise to legal ones. For example, actors in the shadow economy use income from illegal economic activities to purchase goods and services that are created legally. In this case, GDP increases. In other cases, concealing economic activity has a negative impact on economic development, reducing tax revenues.

8. Influence on the investment process.

This type of influence is one of the significant results of the influence of shadow economic activity on the economic development of the state.

The shadow economy, as a rule, limits the possibilities of attracting investment resources from outside, especially foreign ones. The opposite situation is also possible.

9. Impact on the system of international economic relations.

Large illegal amounts that penetrate the world economy, distort prices and negatively affect the income of private firms, change the structure of the balance of payments of states, and destabilize the financial and credit system. UN experts believe that the impact of laundered capital on the international economy should not be underestimated. It is estimated that the funds involved in drug trafficking alone in the 1980s were on the order of $3-5 trillion.

Positive aspects of the shadow economy.

Sometimes shadow economic activities can have a positive impact on a country's economy. First of all, this applies to the non-criminalized part of the shadow economy. For example, it may refer to positive economic activities that are hidden from accounting and taxation and contribute to GDP production. The positive aspects of hidden economic activity include providing employment to a part of the population and the possibility of preventing bankruptcy of a private individual or enterprise.

Candidate of Economic Sciences S. CHERNOV. Photo by E. Uspensky.

Recently, this term - shadow economy - has been used quite often. And because, probably, it occurs among such negative phenomena as an increase in crime, a deterioration of the environmental situation, many consider the shadow economy to be a “new formation” of recent years. Others have vague memories of newspaper publications castigating the shadow economy of socialism. In all countries and under all regimes there were and are people who seek to make money outside the legal framework, outside the laws. The shadow economy of the USSR (in the pre-reform period) amounted to 20% of the official one. In the USA today it accounts for 10-15%, in Italy - up to 30%. So, a fly in the ointment is an almost inevitable component in the ointment that is considered to be the total national income for all of us. The figure of 40%, which is what they call it when determining the size of Russia’s shadow economy, speaks of the troubles of our national economy. S. B. Chernov, associate professor of the Department of Economics and Business at the Moscow Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, answers questions about what economic activity falls under the definition of “shadow” and why it arises.

Deceived depositors at Chara Bank.

Science and life // Illustrations

Distribution of the Russian population by income level (data from the Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

In one of the sociological surveys, Russians answered the question of what they understand by the shadow economy. For some, these were underground (knitting, confectionery and other) workshops. For others - income hidden from the tax inspectorate. For others - transactions with the so-called "black cash" - with unaccounted cash. Each of the interviewees was right, but if we sum up everyone’s statements, this will still be far from a complete list of the “faces” of the shadow economy.

To create a general idea of this phenomenon, I will give the following example. Sometimes in a store, instead of paying for a purchase at the cash register, they give the money to the seller, who puts it under the counter. This is a micro-manifestation of the shadow economy. The cash register is a state that must control and take into account any economic act. Everything that passed by him, was not deposited, was not counted (after all, the seller may then not “break through” the money, but appropriate it), then went to the side, into the shadows, into the shadow economy. Therefore, a bribe to an official, payment for fictitious services are also elements of the shadow economy, because the state in these cases remains “indifferent.” So, any relations arising in the sphere of production, exchange, distribution or consumption of economic goods that harm society, the state and destroy the individual are united by the concept of the shadow economy.

All shadow economic activities can be divided into three groups. The first is the unofficial economy (it is also called the second, parallel, informal). Those same underground workshops, illegal entrepreneurship in various sectors of the national economy. They cause the greatest damage to society in the production of alcohol, fish products, and in the extraction, processing and circulation of precious metals and stones.

An amazing paradox of our economic statistics is that the shadow economy, its informal, unofficial group, usually includes goods and services that are not at all clandestinely produced in the household.

This happens because the gross domestic product (the sum of all goods and services produced in the country) also includes the products of private households. Potatoes grown in personal gardens, for example. Since these products went past the cash register, past the state, their production and consumption formally falls into the category of the shadow economy. Although it is clear that such a “shadow economy” is a typical subsistence economy - a consequence of insufficiently developed productive forces. Such activities do not harm anyone - neither society nor individuals - but rather the opposite. Allows you to reduce tension in the labor market and provides a means of livelihood. This is generally accepted: household goods and services are not subject to taxes.

The second group is the fictitious economy. Behind the screen of an officially registered organization (commercial or public), illegal actions are committed. For example, the export of capital from Russia under fictitious contracts or non-payment of taxes. Taxation is one of the most painful knots in the Russian economy, a tangle of many problems. I will mention only one - liability for non-payment of taxes. In 1997, about six hundred people were prosecuted for this crime in Russia. For comparison: in 1921 (the time of NEP), 26 thousand people were convicted of tax evasion. In Moscow, where the largest Russian capital is concentrated, ten sentences were passed last year and only one involved imprisonment.

The fictitious economy also includes the legalization of criminal capital, the so-called laundering of dirty money.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the annual income of organized criminal groups in Russia reaches 10 trillion non-denominated rubles. The amount is so enormous that it is natural for proposals to appear in our press to somehow legally “forgive” the criminal past of this money so that it can be included in the national economy. But here it is important to remember the following. Firstly, behind such capital there really are crimes, and not only financial ones, but often real criminal ones. Secondly, the owners of criminal money do not set themselves patriotic goals. They need legal money so they don’t have to hide big expenses. Thirdly, dirty money, having turned into clean money, is again used to finance criminal organizations, that is, it is reinvested in criminal activities. With their help, the political interests of the criminal world are lobbied. No expense is spared for this. According to data available from the Moscow Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, up to fifty percent of the income of criminal communities goes to bribing government officials.

In addition, the mores and customs of the criminal world are introduced into the business environment. As a result, social tension is growing: incentives for productive, honest work are decreasing, the idea of a “clean” business is losing its attractiveness, and there is an outflow of private, including foreign, investment from law-abiding market agents.

Criminals are well aware of the methods of money laundering, but honest citizens sometimes do not understand why purchasing antiques, building mansions, or owning an expensive car by proxy falls under this definition. A painting by a famous painter, a luxurious country cottage - this is materialized money, because both can be sold, and the amount received will be completely legal. Remember the hero of the famous movie "Beware of the Car", an electronics seller who had nothing of his own: a car, a dacha, an apartment - everything was registered in the name of other people. This type of shadow business has not disappeared even today, and has even become more dexterous: with the help of front men, he buys controlling stakes in operating enterprises, exports currency abroad during tourist and business trips, makes multiple small deposits in commercial banks, and so on.

The third group of the shadow economy is the black economy: the production and sale of drugs, robberies, robberies, thefts, extortion and other crimes, as a result of which some people get rich, harming others, society and the state. This group also includes monopolistic actions in the market, restriction of competition, for example.

So, the shadow economy manifests itself in three forms: unofficial, fictitious and black. It must be said that in real life it is sometimes difficult to attribute a phenomenon to a specific form. For example, an official receiving a bonus for allegedly doing work, say, allegedly delivering lectures, on the one hand, refers to the black economy (bribery), and on the other hand, to fictitious economics (laundering of illegally obtained money). But these are classification problems that are not so important.

The reasons for the growth of the shadow economy in Russia would seem to be clear: the economic crisis, inflation, rapid privatization, and the lack of the necessary legal framework, that is, the necessary laws. But how then can we explain the existence of the shadow economy in a stable society?

The germ of economic crime lies in the product - the elementary cell of a market economy. Every product contains a contradiction between its two properties - use value and simple value. If the seller is interested in the value of the product (price), then the buyer is interested in use value (marginal and total utility). The first one wants to sell the product at a higher price than it really costs, the second, on the contrary, wants to purchase it for less than its real value. Let me remind you that in a market economy there is such a specific product as labor. And it contains the same contradictions. The economic law of the market is equality in the exchange of goods, the intuitive desire of market participants is to avoid equality, in other words, to circumvent the law. This contradiction, of course, is not fatal in the sense that as long as the product exists, there will be a shadow economy and it is useless to fight it. The state guards fair market exchange, putting this justice into the form of legal laws and punishing violators in accordance with criminal, administrative, civil and other codes. Therefore, a strong state is a guarantee that the shadow economy will not take over most of the country’s national economy.

Reasons for the emergence and spread of the shadow sector. Shadow economy: concept, essence, structure. Definition of the shadow economy and its structure

What is the shadow economy?

Types of shadow economy

Pros and cons of the shadow economy

Disadvantages of the shadow economy

Pros of the shadow economy

Shadow economy and corruption

Reasons for the emergence of the shadow economy

Negative consequences of the shadow economy

Methods of combating the shadow economy

Literature on the shadow economy

Chapter 1. Definition of the shadow economy and the form of its manifestation.

Chapter 2. The mechanism of functioning of the shadow economy.

Conclusion.

Shadow economy - the concept and essence of the shadow economy

Bibliography

Shadow economy and its structure

Shadow economy

Interests and nature of the emergence of shadow structures

Shadow economy and corruption

Methods for measuring the shadow economy

Classification and functions of markets. Illegal economy, the reasons for its occurrence. The role of the market in social production. Types of imperfect competition. Concept and types of illegal markets in the Russian Federation. Consequences of shadow markets.

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