Brazilian Shadow Economy: a methodological contribution to the debateJoo Felippe Cury Marinho Mathias (Instituto de Economia/ UFRJ)ResumoH tempos sabido que existe no Brasil uma grande parcela da renda que no captada pelo sistema estatstico do pas. So vrias as causas desse fenmeno, dentre as quais se destacam a subdeclarao visando sonegao fiscal, vrias modalidades de lavagem de dinheiro e corrupo, contrabando de vrios produtos, questes sanitrias, fraudes a previdncia social, dentre vrios outros fatores. Com efeito, em muitos casos o sistema estatstico do pas encontra dificuldades na elaborao das estatsticas econmicas em funo da disparidade entre os dados da oferta e demanda o que muitas vezes no permite o equilbrio e a coerncia econmica. O objetivo deste trabalho apresentar elementos metodolgicos que contribuam para a construo de uma abordagem sistmica para a interpretao da economia subterrnea. Aps apresentar os elementos da abordagem sistmica o objetivo especfico aplicar a abordagem cadeia produtiva de carne bovina brasileira. A nfase desse trabalho centrada nos princpios norteadores do Sistema de Contas Nacionais SNA (1993). O fio condutor do trabalho ser a observao dos aspectos metodolgicos do manual da ONU levando em conta as estatsticas econmicas diversas geradas pelo rgo oficial de estatsticas do Brasil, o Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatstica. Nesse sentido, para mensurar a economia subterrnea ser apresentado um mtodo indireto baseado nas contas nacionais, especificamente nos quadros de oferta e utilizao. Para a interpretao das causas e efeitos da economia subterrnea o trabalho sugere a adoo e adaptao dos conceitos referentes Nova Economia Institucional (NIE).Palavras-chave: Economia Subterrnea Contas Nacionais Abordagem SistmicaAbstractIt has been known for some time that, in Brazil, a large portion of the income is not captured by the countrys statistical system. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, among which the following stand out: underreporting of income for the purpose of tax evasion, various types of money laundering and corruption, contraband of various products, sanitation issues, social security fraud, among other factors. Indeed, in many cases the countrys statistical system has encountered difficulties preparing economic statistics given the disparity between the data for supply and demand, which often prevents economic balance and coherence. The objective of the present study is to introduce methodological elements that will contribute to the development of a systemic approach to interpret the shadow economy. After introducing the elements of the systemic approach, the specific objective is to apply the approach to the production chain of Brazilian beef. The emphasis of this study is centered on the guidelines of the System of National Accounts SNA (1993). The main thread of the study will be the observation of the methodological aspects of the UN manual taking into account the various economical statistics generated by the official Brazilian statistics agency, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatstica (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). In that sense, to measure the shadow economy, we will present an indirect method based on national accounting, specifically the supply and use tables. To interpret the causes and effects of the shadow economy, the study suggests the adoption and adaptation of the concepts relating to the New Institutional Economy (NIE).Key words: Shadow Economy National Accounts Systemic Approachrea Anpec: rea 4 Economia do Setor PblicoClassificao JEL: H Public Economics, H26 Tax EvasionBrazilian Shadow Economy: a methodological contribution to the debate1. IntroductionIt has been known for some time that, in Brazil, a large portion of the income is not captured by the countrys statistical system. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, among which the following stand out: underreporting of income for the purpose of tax evasion, various types of money laundering and corruption, contraband of various products, sanitation issues, social security fraud, among other factors. Indeed, in many cases the countrys statistical system has encountered difficulties preparing economic statistics given the disparity between the data for supply and demand, which often prevents economic balance and coherence.Thus, if the official system of information becomes systematically skewed, it will potentially provide misguided questions, wrong answers, and false information to citizens and policy makers. It becomes necessary, therefore, to search for the veracity of the macroeconomic information within a countrys statistical system so as to avoid a distortion of information. To that end, it is important to study several aspects of a countrys unobserved economy. It is in this perspective that