A szürkegazdaság-mérés és a nem válaszolás.

This paper presents a special, direct methodology regularly applied in the Baltic countries to measure the size of the shadow economy. The same approach had been applied in Hungarian data collections in 2016 and 2017. Besides presenting the results, the patterns of nonresponse are also in focus. The Shadow Economy Index (SEI) is based on a direct survey of companies to estimate the size of the shadow economy as a proportion of a given country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Direct approaches are mainly avoided by researchers on this topic because of its sensitive nature. Response rates are usually low because concealing the information is just „natural" regarding shadow activities. The SEI approach uses several techniques to maximize the responses: the survey is run as a face-toface interview; they ask company owners/managers; the questions are related to the industry and not directly to the firm. Still, nonresponse can be notable. In the second part of the paper, I determine the main patterns of nonresponse based on the two Hungarian surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]