Cover Soc. Zekerh. frans-verkle - FOD Sociale Zekerheid

ABSTRACTSthe privatization process and the emergence of new private enterprises. Directredistribution was replaced by taxation as a way to secure state revenues. By necessity,tax rates were introduced at rather high levels.As a consequence of the arbitrary and non-transparent operation of the state underthe communist system the trust in the state had been traditionally at a low level.Due to the shocks of the transition process the credibility of the state administrationdeteriorated further. In the post-socialist countries the level of corruption is high,much higher than in the developed market economies. All these developments concludedin a growing hidden economy in the transition countries. As the internationalcross-country estimations show, the ratios of the hidden economy in the transitioncountries vary between 20% and 60%, compared to the 10% to 25% in the developedmarket economies.We define a new indicator, the subjective tax rate, which is a traditional tax rateweighted by the level of inefficiency of the institutional environment. With the helpof cross country regression estimations it is shown that the subjective tax rate isrelevant in explaining not only the size of the hidden economy, but also in theexplanation of developments of the visible segments of the labor market, both inOECD and transition countries.** *“Le rôle de l’économie souterraine en Italie et les politiques actuelles visant à lacombattre”par Laura CastellucciLa part relativement stable de l’économie souterraine italienne, depuis 1970, suggèrequ’il s’agit d’un phénomène structurel. En Italie, il existe deux types différentsd’économies souterraines l’une dans la partie Centre-Nord et l’autre dans le Sud.Aucun gouvernement ne s’est jamais réellement engagé dans la lutte contre le secteursouterrain, à cause des bénéfices attendus en termes de recettes fiscales supplémentaireset/ou d’emploi réel. Mais après l’Euro et dans l’état actuel de la concurrenceinternationale, aucun gain ne peut plus en être escompté.“The role of the underground economy in Italy and current policies to combat it”by Laura CastellucciA relatively stable share of the Italian underground economy since 1970 suggests itto be a structural phenomenon. Two different types of underground economies areat work in the Center-North and in the South. No government has ever really com-1065