At the recent International Conference on Business and Economics (ICBE), the Informality Data Research Lab unveiled three complementary studies on the hidden economy and informality—spanning European-wide assessments, country-specific applications, and thematic bibliometric mapping:

Informality and Inclusion: Assessing the Effects of the Shadow Economy and Informal Labour in Europe (2024)
Authors: Eduard Mihai Manta, Cristina-Maria Geambasu, Ioana Birlan
This study examines the complex impacts of the shadow economy and informal labor across Europe, focusing on inclusion and economic resilience. The research highlights informality’s economic and social implications and offers insights into how these factors affect labor markets and social inclusion across the continent.

Applying Machine Learning Techniques to estimate the size of the Romanian shadow economy (2025)

Authors: Diana Agafiței, Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu, Cristina Geambașu, Andreea-Daniela Ivan

This study leverages Support Vector Regression to refine Currency Demand Approach estimates of Romania’s informal sector by modeling nonlinear links among cash circulation, tax revenues, inflation, unemployment and digitalization metrics. SVR outperforms Random Forest, Gradient Boosting and traditional methods in accuracy, revealing major swings in underground economic activity from 2000 to 2023 tied to crises and policy shifts.

Exploring the Relationship Between Innovation, Informality, Inequality and Tax Evasion through a Bibliometric (2025)

Authors: Zouhair Ennaoumi, Eduard Mihai Manta

This study applies bibliometric methods to Web of Science publications (1998–2025) to map how innovation, informality, tax evasion, and inequality interrelate, using keyword co-occurrence and co-citation network analyses to uncover core themes, leading authors, publication venues, and collaboration patterns. Results show that while innovation can promote formalization and transparency, it may also exacerbate economic disparities and spawn new informal or evasive behaviors.