Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian Countries

In many transition countries, a considerable part of economic activity takes place in the informal sector. On the other hand, tax evasion constitutes a major problem and causes improvements to all levels of the informal sector in which the volume of the informal sector in transition countries is muc...

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Main Authors: Orkhan Nadirov, Khatai Aliyev
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Mendel University, Brno 2015-12-01
Series:European Journal of Business Science and Technology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ejobsat.cz/artkey/ejo-201502-0004_informality-tax-evasion-and-the-quality-of-business-environment-evidence-from-south-caucasian-countries.php
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author Orkhan Nadirov
Khatai Aliyev
author_facet Orkhan Nadirov
Khatai Aliyev
author_sort Orkhan Nadirov
collection DOAJ
description In many transition countries, a considerable part of economic activity takes place in the informal sector. On the other hand, tax evasion constitutes a major problem and causes improvements to all levels of the informal sector in which the volume of the informal sector in transition countries is much higher than in developed countries. Previous works have examined separately both the determinants of the size of the informal sector and the determinants of tax evasion for transition countries. But, this paper complements these significant works by examining cross sectional analysis based on firm-level data for South Caucasian countries. In addition, our paper has a new contribution to previous works by providing some empirical evidence for informality and tax evasion with the quality of business environment. Building on a simple analytical framework, we test the channels affecting the degree of informality in South Caucasian countries and vice versa, the channels affecting the degree of tax evasion. We use instrumental variable OLS and find that the extent of informality is determined by tax evasion, as well as the extent of tax evasion is determined by the informality for these countries. In addition, we find that the business environment has implications for both informal economy and tax evasion. These results suggest generally ameliorating the business environment in South Caucasian countries, while strengthening an access to land and financial sources, adequate provision of public capital such as telecommunication, transport and electricity infrastructure will reduce informality, reigning the corruption, tax administration and labor regulation will reduce tax evasion and ultimately lead to increasing government revenue collections.
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spelling doaj.art-2b055cd83d504d9b9bf117fd5c4f4c912022-12-21T23:35:44ZengMendel University, BrnoEuropean Journal of Business Science and Technology2336-64942694-71612015-12-011211412710.11118/ejobsat.v1i2.17ejo-201502-0004Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian CountriesOrkhan Nadirov0Khatai Aliyev1Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, Czech RepublicDepartment of World Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, Qafqaz UniversityIn many transition countries, a considerable part of economic activity takes place in the informal sector. On the other hand, tax evasion constitutes a major problem and causes improvements to all levels of the informal sector in which the volume of the informal sector in transition countries is much higher than in developed countries. Previous works have examined separately both the determinants of the size of the informal sector and the determinants of tax evasion for transition countries. But, this paper complements these significant works by examining cross sectional analysis based on firm-level data for South Caucasian countries. In addition, our paper has a new contribution to previous works by providing some empirical evidence for informality and tax evasion with the quality of business environment. Building on a simple analytical framework, we test the channels affecting the degree of informality in South Caucasian countries and vice versa, the channels affecting the degree of tax evasion. We use instrumental variable OLS and find that the extent of informality is determined by tax evasion, as well as the extent of tax evasion is determined by the informality for these countries. In addition, we find that the business environment has implications for both informal economy and tax evasion. These results suggest generally ameliorating the business environment in South Caucasian countries, while strengthening an access to land and financial sources, adequate provision of public capital such as telecommunication, transport and electricity infrastructure will reduce informality, reigning the corruption, tax administration and labor regulation will reduce tax evasion and ultimately lead to increasing government revenue collections.https://ejobsat.cz/artkey/ejo-201502-0004_informality-tax-evasion-and-the-quality-of-business-environment-evidence-from-south-caucasian-countries.phptax evasioninformalitythe quality of business environmentsouth caucasian countries
spellingShingle Orkhan Nadirov
Khatai Aliyev
Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian Countries
European Journal of Business Science and Technology
tax evasion
informality
the quality of business environment
south caucasian countries
title Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian Countries
title_full Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian Countries
title_fullStr Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian Countries
title_full_unstemmed Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian Countries
title_short Informality, Tax Evasion and the Quality of Business Environment: Evidence from South Caucasian Countries
title_sort informality tax evasion and the quality of business environment evidence from south caucasian countries
topic tax evasion
informality
the quality of business environment
south caucasian countries
url https://ejobsat.cz/artkey/ejo-201502-0004_informality-tax-evasion-and-the-quality-of-business-environment-evidence-from-south-caucasian-countries.php
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