DOES THE SHADOW ECONOMY AFFECT FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT? CASE STUDY OF POLAND AND POLISH REGIONS

The main goal of the research was to identify the relationship between the level of shadow economy and Foreign Direct Investment. The research was carried in Poland and Polish regions during 1990-2020. MIMIC approach was employed to calculate the level of shadow economy as a % of Polish and regional GDP. Pearson correlation index and Kolmogrov-Smirnov test were applied as well. The study proved there is a sound negative correlation (-0,636) between the shadow economy and foreign direct investment in Poland, but regional associations between those two variables demonstrated different results. Unlike in other Polish provinces, in Opolskie and Podkarpackie the correlation index confirmed a positive association between the level of shadow economy and FDI flow.

Universal Design for Learning: The More, the Better?

An experimental study investigated the effects of applying principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Focusing on epistemic beliefs (EBs) in inclusive science classes, we compared four groups who worked with learning environments based more or less on UDL principles and filled out an original version of a widely used EBs questionnaire or an adapted version using the Universal Design for Assessment (UDA). Based on measurement invariance analyses, a multiple indicator, and multiple cause (MIMIC) approach as well as multi-group panel models, the results do not support an outperformance of the extensive UDL environment. Moreover, the UDA-based questionnaire appears to be more adequately suited for detecting learning gains in an inclusive setting. The results emphasize how important it is to carefully adopt and introduce the UDL principles for learning and to care about test accessibility when conducting quantitative research in inclusive settings.

Labour Market Flexibility in the Context of the Shadow Economy for the Construction Industry

The article analyses labour market flexibility in the context of the shadow economy. The main research problem is devoted to the flexibility of the construction labour market in relation to the level of labourers who work in a country's shadow economy. The following hypothesis was adopted: Flexibility of the labour market for the construction industry decreases with an increase in the level of the shadow economy. The MIMIC approach was used to calculate the level of the shadow economy in a group of selected countries, divided into three categories. The first category includes countries with a relatively low level of shadow economy (less than 15% of their GDP). The second group contains a level starting from 15 to 25% of their GDP, while the third group has a shadow economy that exceeds 25% of GDP. The Pearson correlation index was applied in order to measure the coefficient level between market flexibility and the size of the shadow economy. The flexibility of the labour market was calculated as the change of unemployment caused by the change of construction industry output. The research proved that the correlation between market flexibility and the shadow economy is significant. This is due to the fact that the Pearson index reached the level of 0.866, which means that whenever the shadow economy increases, the labour market flexibility of the construction industry decreases. (original abstract)

The size of the informal economy in Nigeria: a structural equation approach

PurposeThis paper contributes to the literature concerning the Nigerian informal economy (IE) by estimating its size from 1991 to 2017 and identifying the major causes.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation approach in the form of the multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) method is used to estimate the size of the Nigerian IE.FindingsThe results indicate that vulnerable employment and urban population as a percentage of the total population are the main drivers of the IE in Nigeria. The IE in Nigeria ranges from 38.83% to 57.55% of gross domestic product (GDP).Research limitations/implicationsAs a result of the empirical challenges in the estimation of the IE, the estimates of Nigeria's IE are considered to be rough estimates.Originality/valueThe authors calibrated the MIMIC model with the official estimate of the informal sector published by the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This was an attempt to combine the national accounting approach, to estimate the size of IE, with the MIMIC approach, and to estimate the trend of informality.