ICT development and shadow economy: Empirical evidence from the EU transition economies

Abstract

The substantial improvements in development information and communication technologies led many economic and non-economic implications for the countries and in turn motivated the researchers to question the various effects of ICT especially in the light of economic crime. This study explores the short and long run influence of information and communication technologies on the shadow economy in 11 post-transition EU members over 1996-2015 period through second generation panel cointegration and causality tests regarding the cross-sectional dependence. The economic analyses disclosed that ICT indicators and human development had significant effects on the size of shadow economy in both short and long run. It was found that growing ICTs lead to reduction on the size of the shadow economy; in addition, human capital improvement policies serve as an important factor when tackling the shadow economy.