Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Latvia
4a Strelnieku Str.
2nd floor,
Riga, LV-1010, Latvia
Tel.: (+371) 6728 56 67
Fax: (+371) 6783 02 49

e-mail: scc@scc.lv

The Panel Discussions on subject 

Informal Economy in Latvia. Is it still alive and well?

Took place on February 05, 2008 at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.

The informal economy has long been a topic of debate in Latvia. Estimates of its size have been as high as 40% of GDP, although official estimates have usually put it at less than 20%. The Bank of Latvia and the government believe that the size of the shadow economy has been decreasing in recent years. What is the evidence for this? Do measures of the shadow economy really take into account the phenomenon of "envelope wages"? Does it matter? These and other aspects of the phenomenon were discussed by a panel of experts.

Many Thanks to the Experts:

Alf Vanags, Director of BICEPS (the Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies).

Mārtiņš Kazāks, an assistant professor at the SSE Riga, a research fellow at BICEPS and a chief economist at Hansabanka.

Edgars Brēķis, University of Latvia, Faculty of Economics and Management. E.Brēķis wrote his PhD thesis on subject: Latvia's Underground Economy Modeling with an Emphasis on Tax Policy.

Presentations you can find here:  http://www.scc.lv/images/front/PowerPoint/The%20informal%20economy%20in%20Latvia.ppt and http://www.scc.lv/images/front/PowerPoint/UE.ppt 

There were 22 participants representing the SCC in Latvia member companies and guests. 

Thank YOU all!