| Sumario: | Part of a special issue on the shadow economy. The writers discuss the shadow economy and note that it is a driving force in today's world market that has, hitherto, rarely been recognized for its tremendous economic impact. The shadow economy is known by many names, but implicit in each conceptualization, aside from “informal,” is that economic activities include conscious efforts to avoid official detection. The lack of consensus in formulating a unified theory of the shadow economy suggests that important questions remain unanswered. Topics discussed include definitions of shadow economic activity; the importance of studying the shadow economy; why the shadow economy needs measurement; the implications of shadow economic activity; whether shadow economic activity is desirable; methodologies used in the estimation of the size of shadow economies; and size estimates for several transition, developing, and developed countries.
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