The hidden economy has as many facets and meanings as names. It is also known as “grey and black”, “underground”, “illegal”, “unrecorded”, etc. The informal economy exists in all countries – not only transition and developing but also EU and OECD member-states. And although it has different implications and effects in different countries, it always shows existing or future problems on the public – private interface of the economy – overregulation, lack of adequate control, lack of acceptance of formal rules, emerging new forms of business and social relations, etc. Failure to research and address properly the informal economy might have dire consequences for the political, social and economic development of a country. The hidden economy does not recognize national boundaries and can grow to be a camouflage to criminal activities. One could even argue that the informal sector in the EU accession countries is more organically related to that in the EU member-states than the official domestic economy. Hence, further research and current policy work is much needed to help governments and society better understand the informal economy nature and its implications for development on national and EU level.

Recognizing the specific importance of the problem to the country the Economic Program has started a number of initiatives to monitor and analyze the hidden  economy and to outline actions for curbing its negative implications. The economic team of CSD  has launched an European thematic network of academics, policy analysts, representatives of civil society and international organizations to provide local and EU policy makers with practical solutions to informal economy problems. Since 2016, the Economic Program experts support the work of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work.