The black (or shadow) economy in the system of modern market relations is, to a certain extent, a completely natural phenomenon associated with the adoption of restrictive measures. In the transition economy, according to experts, the size of the black economy is growing (up to 40-50% of GDP), this is due to the fact that market relations in the economy are accompanied by negative development of the private sector, growth of farms, imperfect legislation, a temporary drop in the quality of life. In such conditions, the need to develop an adequate approach to monitoring how the overall market relations and the black economy at the macro- and mesoscale levels is obvious is obvious.
Currently, scientists have developed many approaches to the definition of the shadow economy and various groups of methods for assessing it: direct, indirect, including employment analysis, monetary methods, alternative estimates, the method of commodity flows, econometric methods. But modern market relations and the black economy are still at such a level of development that there is a multiplicity of definitions for the category of shadow (black) economy, unstable terminology, and the heterogeneity of the quantitative estimates obtained. So, their range in the CIS countries varies between 10 and 55%, in EU candidate countries - 10 and 22%, in developed countries - 1.2-17%. This is due to both differences in official policies, the scale of the informal and hidden economies, and the use of various valuation methods, which are modern market relations. Among these methods, direct ones — underestimate the estimate, others, indirect, structural, as well as methods of hidden determinants, soft modeling — overstate.
The methodological recommendations of the Eurostat task force, recommendations of the CIS Statistical Committee and other institutions of economic analysis are non-specific and reflect only the need to adhere to general definitions and classifications of black economic activity, take into account the characteristics of the national economy, use the proposed analytical framework (determining and adjusting the boundaries of a hidden, informal and illegal economy in enlarged sectors), when evaluating, give priority to the informal sector.
In some countries, the assessment of the black economy is generally or partially absent, only superficial calculations are carried out, the private manifestations of the hidden economy are taken into account, most often such a parameter as property in a market economy and its shadow segment. A distinctive feature of most of their assessments of this type of economy published to date is their bias, as a rule, their underestimation, which is caused both by the objective properties of such a phenomenon as market relations and the black economy, and by the shortcomings of statistical accounting and the deliberate desire to provide false information from respondents obtained from sample household surveys. In addition, the psychological unpreparedness of society for the analysis of the values of the black economy also affects (even if such estimates are obtained).
Long-term studies of the essence, structure, methods of measuring the shadow economy, a number of experimental calculations made it possible to formulate some general approaches to the definition of this phenomenon.
To consider unobservable types of economic activity, a number of scientists have chosen the term shadow economy as a generalizing term. In terms of an unobservable, unaccounted for, unregistered economy, by definition, a refusal to measure these phenomena or, at least, an indication of its unreliability is laid. The term “shadow” seems more successful: it does not focus on the nature of the assessment, emphasizes the specific conditions for the implementation of activities, the nature of income generation. This approach to definition allows us to identify any unregistered economic activity. The term black, in this context, should be understood only as a common interpretation of the category of shadow economy. Modern market relations, and the black economy in their statistical measurement, require the most complete coverage and quantitative measurement of all types of shadow activity, regardless of their origin.