Monetary policy rules have been considered as fundamental protection against inflation. However, empirical evidence for a correlation between rules and inflation is relatively weak. In this paper, we first discuss likely causes for this weak link and present the argument that monetary commitment...

Using the currency demand and DYMIMIC approaches estimates are presented about the size of the shadow economy in 22 Transition and 21 OECD countries. Over 2001/2002 in 21 OECD countries is the average size of the shadow economy (in percent of official GDP) 16.7% of "official" GDP and of 22...

The latest empirical results of the size of the shadow economy in 18 OECD countries are presented, using the currency demand approach to calculate the shadow economy over time. The results indicate a strong increase in the size of the shadow economy, over the period 1960 to 1998 and for 15 of...

In der vergangenen Dekade hat Deutschland den Kampf gegen Schwarzarbeit und Steuerhinterziehung durch zahlreiche Maßnahmen verschärft. Doch sind Steuerhinterziehung und Schwarzarbeit in Deutschland tatsächlich so omnipräsent, wie die Bundesregierung immer wieder glauben machen will? Und wie...