Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Income measurement and comparisons

  • Articles
  • Published:
International Advances in Economic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a way for better measuring a country's global income when official statistics fail to account for the existence of a thriving underground, or black economy. Another purpose of this research is to discuss adequate ways to perform international comparisons of income, and income per head, and to correct for depreciation. Besides the general interest of this problem, there are two more specific reasons behind this work. First, the allocation of development funds by international agencies (for example, the structural funds in the European monetary system) are conditioned on this measure. Second, the measurement of unemployment may be totally distorted by failing to account for the hidden economy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barthelemy, P. "The Macroeconomic Estimates of the Hidden Economy: A Critical Analysis,"The Review of Income and Wealth, June 1988, pp. 183–208.

  • Feige, E. L. "How Big is the Irregular Economy?,"Challenge, 22, November–December 1979, pp. 5–13.

  • __. "The Underground Economies: Tax Evasion and Information Distortion, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann, P. M. "The Subterranean Economy,"Financial Analysts' Journal, November–December 1977, pp. 26–34.

  • Isachsen, A. J.; Klovland, J. T.; Strom, S. "The Hidden Economy in Norway," in V. Tanzi, ed.,The Underground Economy in the United States and Abroad, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lagenfeldt, E. "The Underground Economy in the Federal Republic of Germany: A Preliminary Assessment," in E. L. Feige, ed.,The Underground Economies: Tax Evasion and Information Distortion, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, K. G. P. "Demand for Currency and the Black Economy in the U.K.,"Journal of Economic Studies, 9, 2, 1982, pp. 3–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauleón, I. "A Quarterly Econometric Model for the Spanish Economy," in H. Motamen, ed.,Economic Modeling in OECD Countries, London, United Kingdom: Chapman and Hall, 1988, pp. 683–713.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauleón, I.; Escobedo, M. Isabel. "Demand for Money and the Hidden Economy,Hacienda Pública Española, 119, 1992, pp. 105–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauleón, I.; Raymond, J. L. "Inflation in Spain: A Two Sector Model Approach," in P. de Grauwe; G. Tullio; S. Micossi, eds.,Inflation and Wage Behaviour in the EMS, Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 119–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauleón, I.; Risueño, M. "A Joint Estimation of the Production Function and the Rate of Depreciation of the Capital Stock: A Disaggregated Analysis," working paper, 97-70, Universidad Carlos III, 1997.

  • Mauleón, I.; Sardá, J. "A Quantitative Estimation of the Hidden Economy in Spain,"Revista Vasca de Economía: Ekonomiaz, 39, 1998, pp. 124–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • __. "On the Empirical Specification of the European Demand for Money Function,"International Advances in Economic Research, 5, 1, 1999, pp. 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mauleón, I.; Sastre, L. "An Empirical Model for the Spanish Foreign Trade,"Economic and Financial Modeling, Autumn 1996, pp. 101–44.

  • Nadiri, M.; Prucha, I. "Estimation of the Depreciation Rate of Physical and R&D Capital in the U.S. Total Manufacturing Sector," working paper, 4591, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1993.

  • Quirk, P. "Money Laundering: Muddying the Macroeconomy,"Finance and Development, March 1997, pp. 37–42.

  • Schneider, F. "Empirical Results for the Size of the Shadow Economy of Western European Countries over Time," paper presented at the Fifty-Forth Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, 1997.

  • Smith, A. "The Informal Economy,"Lloyds Bank Review, 141, July 1981, pp. 45–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanzi, V. "The Underground Economy in the United States,"Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, December 1980, pp. 472–3.

  • __.The Underground Economy in the United States and Abroad, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • __. "The Underground Economy in the United States: Annual Estimates, 1930–1980,"International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, March 1983, pp. 283–305.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad de Salamanca and Universidad de Tarragona, Spain

    Ignacio Mauleón & Jordi Sardá

Authors
  1. Ignacio Mauleón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jordi Sardá
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

This paper has benefitted from comments by the participants at the Forty-Seventh International Atlantic Economic Conference, Vienna, Austria, March 16–23, 1999, and especially Michael Pickhardt. Financial support is acknowledged from the Dirección General de Ciencia y Tecnología, under project SEC 98-1112, and the Junta Castilla y León, under project SA 29/99. Comments by the participants at the 1997 Applied Econometrics Association conference on public deficits are also acknowledged. The authors are solely responsible for any remaining errors.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mauleón, I., Sardá, J. Income measurement and comparisons. International Advances in Economic Research 6, 475–487 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294966

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294966

Keywords

Search

Navigation