The informal sector of the economy in Russia

The article deals with the problems of functioning formal (official, regulated) and informal (unobserved, unregulated) economies. The ways of evaluating the operation of a national economy are discussed. Special attention is paid to the main entities of the informal sector of the economy. Modern views on defining the boundaries of the informal economy are presented (R.I. Kapelyushnikov, V.E. Gimpelson, Technical Support Groups on Decent Work and the Office of International Labour Organization for Eastern Europe and Central Asia). The article considers the general dynamics of employment in the formal and informal sectors of the economy and gross domestic product. The authors clarify the concept of a “short-received” and “underestimated” gross domestic product. Based on the research conducted by the authors the need for developing a model of calculating the underestimated GDP is revealed and justified, its basic characteristics are formulated. The paper describes the approaches that enable us to assess the scale of a non-observed economy in Russia.