ABSTRACT
The subject of this book has been to investigate the extent by which official statistics are distorted and tax obligations evaded. The earlier chapters demonstrated the adverse implications that arise from a large and volatile underground economy, particularly for public policy. Having said this, many macroeconomists and policy makers have paid little scholarly attention to the underground economy, at least until recently. Reuter (1982) has suggested that many of the paradoxes of recent macroeconomic performances are not the failing theory but data (p. 125). In fact significant distortions to macroeconomic data that are generated from underground economic activity may weaken the effectiveness of policy prescriptions implemented to accommodate changes in economic conditions.
