Šedá ekonomika ve Švýcarsku: analýza Modelem MIMIC

This thesis empirically estimates the extent of the shadow economy in Switzerland using the MIMIC (multiple indicator multiple cause) model. Switzerland is the country with the lowest ratio of the shadow economy to GDP in Europe, so it is useful to determine not only the size of the shadow economy, but also the factors that contribute to the low size of the shadow economy. This implies important knowledge for other European countries. This work provides the first separate estimate of the shadow economy in Switzerland based on time series analysis and not panel data. Based on current theories of the shadow economy, the same variables were used as for developed European countries, namely economic freedom, tax quota, unemployment rate and the share of public social expenditure in GDP. A statistically significant effect on the shadow economy has been demonstrated for the tax quota and economic freedom, with a relatively low tax quota and high economic freedom being the reason why the shadow economy is so low in Switzerland. According to estimates presented in this thesis, the share of the gray economy in GDP in Switzerland has a declining trend from the range of 22.9 - 6.9% in 1991 to the range of 5.6 - 1.7% in 2017.