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The informal economy, often characterized by unregulated and untaxed economic activities, has significant yet understudied implications for sustainable development and inclusivity. This paper explores the influence of the size of the shadow economy and undeclared work patterns (envelope wage, without a formal contract and bogus self-employed) on the Leave No One Behind Index and the Sustainable Development Index developed by the United Nations across European countries from 2000 to 2021. Employing panel data regression models, the research investigates the differential impacts of informality on these indices, revealing a negative correlation with the informal economy and a positive association with various forms of undeclared work. The analysis, comprising 18 models segmented by region – Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Europe – demonstrates that the adverse effects of the informal economy are more pronounced, whereas the positive contributions of undeclared work patterns are subtler, yet significant. The study’s findings suggest a complex interaction between informal economic activities and sustainable development goals, challenging the conventional perspective on informality and its role in inclusive development. The results indicate that while the shadow economy may hinder broad development efforts, informal labor arrangements support vulnerable populations, underscoring the need for nuanced policy interventions that recognize the multifaceted nature of work and its impacts on development.

The informal economy, often characterized by unregulated and untaxed economic activities, has significant yet understudied implications for sustainable development and inclusivity. This paper explores the influence of the size of the shadow economy and undeclared work patterns (envelope wage, without a formal contract and bogus self-employed) on the Leave No One Behind Index and the Sustainable Development Index developed by the United Nations across European countries from 2000 to 2021. Employing panel data regression models, the research investigates the differential impacts of informality on these indices, revealing a negative correlation with the informal economy and a positive association with various forms of undeclared work. The analysis, comprising 18 models segmented by region – Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Europe – demonstrates that the adverse effects of the informal economy are more pronounced, whereas the positive contributions of undeclared work patterns are subtler, yet significant. The study's findings suggest a complex interaction between informal economic activities and sustainable development goals, challenging the conventional perspective on informality and its role in inclusive development. The results indicate that while the shadow economy may hinder broad development efforts, informal labor arrangements support vulnerable populations, underscoring the need for nuanced policy interventions that recognize the multifaceted nature of work and its impacts on development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analysed the relationship between informality and sustainable development goals using the bibliometric analysis. The empirical results emphasized that urban development, women's agenda, and decent work are the main areas of informality circumscribed in the issue of sustainable development, guiding the priorities in research and for decision makers by conclusive and relevant information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to investigate the research field of informality from a dual perspective—unilateral versus multilateral—in relation to Sustainable Development Goals. It highlights the dynamics of the literature and potential future research directions through mapping that enables the investigation of scientific knowledge. To elaborate the temporal development of the informality research field in terms of publications, we extract articles from Web of Science published between 1978–2021. We investigate more than 5000 documents, focusing on author, keyword, paper, journal, and topic analysis. The empirical findings emphasise the conceptual structure from the unilateral perspective, with clusters focusing on informality, urban informality, and sustainable development. Moreover, the informal economy, informality and entrepreneurship, tax evasion, tax morale and tax compliance, the shadow economy, the informal sector, and corruption are clusters from the multilateral perspective. According to the intellectual structure of the field, A. Roy is the most representative author for the subarea of informality and Sustainable Development Goals, with articles mostly related to urban informality and cities. F. Schneider, K. Gerxhani, R. LaPorta, B. Torgler, J. Alm, A. Sandmo, C. Williams, H. De Soto, and R. Dell'Anno are the most representative reference authors for the entire spectrum of informality. Finally, World Development , Geoforum , Environment and Urbanisation , Urban Studies , Habitat International , American Economic Review , Journal of Economic Literature , and Journal of Public Economy are the most prolific journals in the field of informality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]