Abstract

Three competing theories have been used to explain participation in the undeclared economy. A structuralist perspective asserts that workers are pushed into undeclared work because of their “exclusion” from the declared economy. Two alternative theoretical perspectives assert that undeclared operators voluntarily “exit” the declared economy. Neo-liberals depict undeclared workers as rational economic actors and institutional theorists represent them more as social actors who disagree with the formal rules. To evaluate these competing theories in relation to the supply of undeclared home repair and renovation services, data are reported from a 2019 Eurobarometer survey involving 27,565 face-to-face interviews in 28 European countries. The finding is that 9.4% did so solely due to their exclusion from declared work. 19.8% participated purely for reasons associated with the rational economic actor perspective and 28.6% only for motives associated with the social actor perspective. 42.2% did so for a mixture of motives. Using probit regression analysis, the characteristics of those supplying undeclared home repair and renovation services and doing so for each rationale are revealed. The theoretical outcome is a call to view these perspectives not as competing but complementary. The policy outcome is to reveal the different policy initiatives required to tackle each of the rationales for supplying undeclared home repair and renovation services.

摘要

三种竞争理论已被用来解释未申报经济的参与。从结构主义的观点出发，工人被迫从事未申报的工作，因为他们被“排除”在已申报的经济之外。有两种可供选择的理论观点认为，未申报的经营者会自愿“退出”已申报的经济。新自由主义者将未申报的工人描述为理性的经济参与者，而制度理论家则将他们更多地视为与正式规则不同的社会参与者。为了评估与未申报的房屋维修和翻新服务的供应有关的这些竞争理论，2019年欧洲晴雨表调查报告了数据，涉及28个欧洲国家的27,565次面对面采访。研究发现，有9.4％的人这样做是因为他们被排除在已宣布的工作之外。19 8％的参与者纯粹出于与理性的经济行为者观点相关的原因，而28.6％的参与者仅出于与社会行为者观点相关的动机。42.2％的人出于各种动机这样做。使用概率回归分析，揭示了提供未申报的房屋维修和翻新服务的人员的特征，并且针对每个理由进行了分析。理论上的结果是呼吁将这些观点视为竞争而非互补。该政策的结果是揭示为解决提供未申报的房屋维修和翻新服务的每个理由而需要采取的不同政策措施。揭示了提供未申报的房屋维修和翻新服务并按每个理由进行的服务的特征。理论上的结果是呼吁将这些观点视为竞争而非互补。该政策的结果是揭示为解决提供未申报的房屋维修和翻新服务的每种理由所需要的不同政策举措。揭示了提供未申报的房屋维修和翻新服务并按每个理由进行的服务的特征。理论上的结果是呼吁将这些观点视为竞争而非互补。该政策的结果是揭示为解决提供未申报的房屋维修和翻新服务的每个理由而需要采取的不同政策措施。