Citizens’ Perspectives on Illicit Activities

Commissioned by: The Institute of Economics, Zagreb
Project duration: October 1, 2019 - December 31, 2023
Project manager: Jelena Budak
Collaborator: Edo Rajh

Summary:
The aim of the research project was to assess citizens’ opinions, attitudes, perceptions, experiences, and practices regarding a range of illicit activities, including but not limited to: gray market (e.g. tobacco products gray market), corruption, illegal trade, privacy intrusion online, and other unethical practices.
Empirical studies of these phenomena are rather rare, in particular for the region. This contrasts with the actual and persistent problems affecting Croatia and other European post-transition countries exposed to the detrimental impacts of widespread corruption, smuggling and illegal trade, undeclared work and shadow economy, privacy violation, online security issues, and other perils to the socio-economic development in the digital age. The microdata on individual level combined with mezzo (sectoral) level approach provided evidence for deriving the research-based policy recommendations.
The research primarily used the large database collected within the BalkanSmugg project and extended the database for the analyses with other survey data and secondary data depending on the particular research theme.
The output of the research project were research papers submitted for publication to journals in WoSCC/Scopus bibliographic databases. During the project implementation, cooperation was established with co-authors from other Croatian and foreign institutions. Project results were disseminated through international scientific conferences in Croatia and abroad, expert panels and meetings, as well as in EIZ Working Papers and EIZ comments.  
  
4 published papers:

1. Piri Rajh, Sunčana; Rajh, Edo; Horvat, Sandra. Digital Piracy and the Theory of Planned Behavior: Developing Typology of Consumers// Conference Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on the Economics of Decoupling (ICED)/ Družić, Gordan; Basarac Sertić, Martina (ed.). Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti (HAZU); Ekonomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2023. pp. 385-399. (original scientific paper)
2. Budak, Jelena; Rajh, Edo; Slijepčević, Sunčana; Maloča, Matea. Corruption pressure on business revisited: bribery incidence in European countries// Ekonomski vjesnik, 36 (2023) 1; pp. 15-30. 10.51680/ev.36.1.2 (original scientific paper)
3. Frey, Barbara; Škrinjarić, Bruno; Budak, Jelena. Perceptions of Corruption and Informality among Businesspeople//South East European Journal of Economics and Business, 17 (2022) 2; pp. 49-66. 10.2748/jeb-2022-0014 (original scientific paper)
4. Piri Rajh, Sunčana; Rajh, Edo; Horvat, Sandra. Theory of Planned Behavior and Psychographics in Digital Piracy// Conference Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on the Economics of Decoupling (ICED)/ Družić, Gordan; Dumančić, Lucija Rogić (ed.). Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti (HAZU); Ekonomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2022. pp. 643-659. (original scientific paper)

1. Škrinjarić, Bruno; Budak, Jelena: Povjerenje građana u institucije i percepcije korupcije prije i nakon ulaska Hrvatske u EU. Hrvatska i komparativna javna uprava
2. Barbara Frey; Škrinjarić, Bruno; Budak, Jelena: Perception of Corruption and Informality among Croatian Businesspeople. Journal of East European Management Studies

1. Barbara Frey; Budak, Jelena; Škrinjarić, Bruno: Private Sector Perspective on Corruption and Informality: A Comparative Analysis of Serbia and Croatia