Underground Economy

A significant amount of economic activity goes unrecorded. It could be because it is simply home production (e.g. preparing a meal or doing laundry), or people may not report it to avoid taxes (e.g. services like babysitting), or may outright be illegal (such drug production and distribution). Estimates of the underground economy (market activities not reported or illegal) for the U.S. are around 10% of GDP; that makes it roughly the 10th largest economy in the world, and puts it close to Canada’s GDP. Research focus: how is the underground economy measured? Measured as a fraction of GDP, which countries have the largest underground economies?