This book attempts to review and summarize the mostly obscure professional literature on tax evasion and the black economy to produce a text that informs both the popular and political debate about the issues involved.
Part 1 Measuring the size of the black economy - monetary approaches: the currency ratio; the transactions method; currency holdings and the "big bill" phenomenon. Part 2 Monetary statistics and the black economy - some evidence: the black economies of North America and Europe. Part 3 Non-monetary approaches to measuring the black economy: differences between income and expenditure at the household and national levels; labour market studies; the "soft modelling" approach. Part 4 Participation in the black economy - theory: portfolio models of income tax evasion; models of tax evasion with endogenous income; some criticisms and developments of the economic model. Part 5 Participation in the black economy - evidence: surveys of the tax-payers' attitudes; experimental tax games; econometric studies. Part 6 The consequences of tax evasion and the black economy: tax revenue losses; macroeconomic issues; microeconomic issues. Part 7 Policy issues: tax law enforcement; alternative policy options; The Keith Report - a case study.
