ABSTRACT

This article is the first attempt to apply Putnis and Sauka's approach to direct measurement of the shadow economy through a survey of company managers in Central Asia. The results of the survey are used to calculate a shadow economy index for 2017 and 2018 in Kyrgyzstan, and to discuss the difference between direct and indirect methods in calculating the size of a shadow economy. We also propose a distinction between shadow economies and informality in general. While a shadow economy is usually understood to arise as a consequence of underreporting of income, we argue that informality is best understood as the aggregate of non-monetary and non-economic practices used in society. Applying this distinction to our case, we suggest that the origins of Kyrgyzstan's shadow economy are not only economic; rather social and cultural processes have had significant effects. This has implications for policy responses that address shadow economic activities.

摘要

本文是首次尝试通过对中亚地区公司经理的调查，将普特尼斯和索卡的方法应用于影子经济的直接测度。调查结果被用于计算吉尔吉斯斯坦2017年和2018年的影子经济指数，并讨论直接法和间接法在计算影子经济规模方面的区别。我们还建议区分影子经济和一般的非正规性。虽然影子经济通常被理解为收入少报的结果，但我们认为，最好将非正规性理解为社会中使用的非货币和非经济实践的总和。将这种区别应用到我们的案例中，我们认为吉尔吉斯斯坦影子经济的起源不仅是经济上的，而且是经济上的。相反，社会和文化进程产生了重大影响。这对解决影子经济活动的政策反应有影响。