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Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Colin C Williams

Development economics

Labor Relations

Articles 1 - 17 of 17

Full-Text Articles in Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics

Shadows: Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams Jul 2019

Shadows: Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Across the member states of the European Union and beyond, paid transactions are occuring that are not declared to the state for tax, social security or labour law purposes. The practice is not a minority one. As a result, tackling undeclared work has become a core issue on the policy agendas of both governments and the European Commission, reflected in the establishment of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work. 
How, therefore, can undeclared work be tackled? A review of the literature indicates two major distinct approaches. First, a rational economic actor approach that tackles undeclared work by ensuring that the …


Preventative Approaches To Tackle Undeclared Work, With A Focus Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams Jun 2019

Preventative Approaches To Tackle Undeclared Work, With A Focus Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.


Shadow Economy: Definitions, Terms And Theoretical Considerations, Colin C. Williams May 2019

Shadow Economy: Definitions, Terms And Theoretical Considerations, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The last decades, many scholars highlighted the shadow economic activities, regarding their disadvantages (unemployment, impoverishment etc) and advantages (intensifies competition, flexibility in employment etc). During the financial crisis, informal activities rose in noisy way, which triggered the development of special definitions to describe a wide range of actions which in turn have gradually configured and updated the content of the shadow economy term. In this paper we present the theoretical background of the shadow economy term, by selecting the main worldwide literature published from 1973 to 2018. Many studies have tried to definite the shadow economy term but none has …


Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo, Colin C. Williams Apr 2019

Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of undeclared work in Kosovo* followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled.


Ifth Plenary Meeting Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Report On Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams Mar 2019

Ifth Plenary Meeting Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Report On Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The fifth Plenary meeting of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work was held in Brussels on 18-19 October 2018. The first day of this meeting was dedicated to the topic of tackling under-declared employment in the European Union. This report summarises the discussions at the workshop, which drew on the findings of two studies on this topic produced as part of the Platform’s work programme.

The objective of this thematic discussion on under-declared employment in the European Union was: (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about under-declared employment, and (iii) to …


Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams Jan 2019

Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This report is part of the project SHADOWSwhich aims to investigate the effectiveness of different policy measures in reducing undeclared work. As such, the project evaluates not only the effectiveness of using a rational economic actor approach (that tackles undeclared work by ensuring that the payoff from undeclared work is outweighed by the costs), and a social actor approach (grounded in a view that undeclared work arises when tax morale is low), but also analyses the interaction effects (between deterrents and tax morale, and vertical and horizontal trust) in various contexts. This report focuses on the social actor approach, …


Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, Colin C. Williams Nov 2018

Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This study evaluates the prevalence, distribution and characteristics of undeclared work in the agricultural, forestry and fishing sector (henceforth ‘agricultural sector’) in the EU and how this can be tackled. To do so, the prevalence, distribution and characteristics of undeclared work in the agricultural sector, along with its systemic drivers, are analysed. This analysis then provides the evidence base for an analysis of how undeclared work can be tackled. To identify how to achieve this, an analysis is undertaken of the legislative and institutional frameworks, of the policy approaches for tackling undeclared work in the agricultural sector, and an evidence-based …


Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns: Outputs From Plenary Discussion Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams Apr 2018

Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns: Outputs From Plenary Discussion Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The fourth Plenary meeting of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work was held in Brussels on 8-9 March 2018. The first day of this meeting was dedicated to the topic of the preventative approach towards tackling undeclared work, with a focus upon service vouchers and awareness raising. This report summarises the discussions at the meeting, drawing also on the forthcoming study on this topic which has been developed as part of the Platform’s work programme


Tackling Salary Under-Reporting In Croatia: Evidence From Employer And Employee Surveys, Colin C. Williams Mar 2018

Tackling Salary Under-Reporting In Croatia: Evidence From Employer And Employee Surveys, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how to tackle the illegal wage practice where formal
employers pay their formal employees an undeclared (envelope) wage in addition to their
official declared salary, which reduces the tax and social contributions paid to the authorities.
Until now, two competing policy approaches have been advocated, namely a conventional
rational economic actor approach which seeks to increase the perceived or actual penalties
and probability of being caught, and an emergent social actor approach that seeks to improve
tax morale. Reporting two nationally representative surveys of employers and employees
conducted in 2015 in Croatia, …


Under-Declaring Work, Falsely Declaring Work: Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams, Ioana Horodnic Sep 2017

Under-Declaring Work, Falsely Declaring Work: Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams, Ioana Horodnic

Colin C Williams

Under-declared employment occurs when a formal employer pays a formal employee an official declared wage but also an additional undeclared (‘envelope’) wage in order to evade the full social insurance and tax liabilities owed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence, characteristics and distribution of this fraudulent wage practice in the EU28, to explain its existence, to provide an evidence-based evaluation of the effectiveness of different policy approaches for tackling it, and propose a set of policy recommendations.

Prevalence, characteristics and distribution of under-declared employment
To evaluate the prevalence, characteristics and distribution of under-declared employment in the …


Tackling Undeclared Work In Southeast Europe: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams Aug 2017

Tackling Undeclared Work In Southeast Europe: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Ø  Undeclared work is socially accepted and widely practiced in Bulgaria, Croatia, and the FYR of Macedonia.
 
Ø  More than 1 in 5 adults in these countries acknowledge that they have bought goods and services on the undeclared economy in the prior year. More than 1 in 12 report that they have undertaken undeclared work, and more than 1 in 10 declared employees report that they receive from their employer in addition to their declared salary an additional undeclared ‘envelope’ wage.
 
Ø  But undeclared work differs across and within the three countries. For every …


Greypolicybrief2_Macedonia.Pdf, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers, Ruslan Stefanov Aug 2017

Greypolicybrief2_Macedonia.Pdf, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers, Ruslan Stefanov

Colin C Williams

KEY POINTS
Ø  Undeclared work hasdeep roots in FYR of Macedonia. 1 in 16 adults and 1 in 8 of the employed engage in undeclared work. The use of informal connections to circumvent formal institutions is practiced by 35% of Macedonians.
Ø  Formal institutions in the country are underdeveloped. Unemployment also remains unusually high compared with the EU average.
Ø  The traditional repression approach to tackling undeclared work, which has been prioritised so far by the authorities, is ineffective.
Ø  Increasing penalties and surveillance/ control should at the very least be supplemented by public awareness …


Tackling Undeclared Work In Bulgaria: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Ruslan Stefanov, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers Aug 2017

Tackling Undeclared Work In Bulgaria: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Ruslan Stefanov, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers

Colin C Williams

KEY POINTS
Ø  Undeclared work is socially accepted and widely practiced in Bulgaria. The undeclared economy is estimated at roughly a third of GDP. Nearly one in ten people do some undeclared work.
Ø  Undeclared work is motivated primarily by lack of trust between the people and the authorities.It involves mostly people who voluntarily exit the declared economy but also those that are excluded.  
Ø  The conventional repressive approach to tackling undeclared work has exhausted its effects in Bulgaria. It should be complemented with more curative, preventative and commitment policies.
Ø  Policymakers …


Illegitimate Economic Practices In Bulgaria: Findings From A Representative Survey Of 2,005 Citizens, Colin C. Williams, Junhong Yang Jul 2017

Illegitimate Economic Practices In Bulgaria: Findings From A Representative Survey Of 2,005 Citizens, Colin C. Williams, Junhong Yang

Colin C Williams

This report presents the findings of a survey on illegitimate economic practices in Bulgaria conducted between July and October 2015. This representative survey of 2005 citizens focused on the experiences of Bulgarians with undeclared work, envelope wages and the practice of “pulling strings”, as well as on their opinion about these types of dishonest behaviour.
According to the respondents, illegitimate economic practices are strongly ingrained in Bulgarian society. According to the estimation of Schneider (2013), the undeclared economy accounts for 31% of GDP in Bulgaria in 2013, which is the highest estimation for any country in the EU-28. According to …


Envelope Wages In The European Union, Colin C. Williams Dec 2012

Envelope Wages In The European Union, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This article reveals how many formal employees in the European Union
receive from their formal employer not only a declared wage but also an undeclared
“envelope wage”. Reporting the results of a 2007 survey involving
26,659 face-to-face interviews, the authors find that one in 18 formal employees
receives an envelope wage from their formal employer, amounting to 25 per cent
of their gross pay on average. Such hybrid wage arrangements are ubiquitous,
but are more common in some countries, employee categories and types of firm
than others. The authors conclude by discussing the theoretical and policy implications
of these findings.


Informal Employment In Developed And Developing Economies: Perspectives And Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams Dec 2012

Informal Employment In Developed And Developing Economies: Perspectives And Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The aim of this introductory article is to provide a critical overview of
how informality has been defined and measured, together with selected findings
on its extent and character, and a summary of competing views regarding its role
in contemporary economies and how it can be tackled. The outcome is a set of
conceptual frameworks for understanding both the burgeoning literature on informal
employment and how each of the perspectives presented in this Special Issue
contributes to the advancement of knowledge on this subject so as to set the scene
for the articles that follow.


From Market Hegemony To Diverse Economies: Evaluating The Plurality Of Labour Practices In Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers Dec 2011

From Market Hegemony To Diverse Economies: Evaluating The Plurality Of Labour Practices In Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers

Colin C Williams

Drawing inspiration from a burgeoning corpus of scholars who have begun to question
the narrative of impending market hegemony, this paper seeks to further advance this
emergent ‘diverse economies’ literature by constructing a conceptual framework for
representing the multiple labour practices in economies. Transcending the simplistic
market/non-market dichotomy, this conceptualises multiple kinds of labour existing along
a spectrum from market-oriented to non-market oriented practices, which is cross-cut by
another spectrum ranging from wholly monetised to wholly non-monetised practices. The
resultant portrayal of a plurality of labour practices that seamlessly merge into each other
is then applied to understanding the types …