Using mass media to analyze the shadow economy

Abstract

The existing methods of researching the shadow economy do not always provide accurate results. This is especially true for the analysis of illegal foreign trade and the usage of renewable natural resources. In some cases, useful information can be obtained from mass media data. The abilities, gained with the development of technologies, allow to apply new objective methods of analysis to the object of study we are interested in. The most reasonable method seems to be quantitative analysis of “big data”, which means articles and notes related to the topic given. Quantitative analysis was performed on relevant keywords. In the research this method was applied to mass media data for the period from 1996 to 2016. The purpose was to find out the possibility to use the results received to measure the scale of shadow economy. Results of the quantitative analysis, which showed presence of a significant shadow economy scope, were verified by other key characteristics, also allowing to speak about the existence of shadow economy sector. Our results show that the illegal harvesting and export of Russian Pacific crab correlates closely with the frequency of selected key words in federal and regional mass media. This research shows the possibility of using mass media to measure the scale of shadow economic activity and to form evidence-based recommendations for eliminating its negative consequences.