LA SHADOW ECONOMY: RESILIENZA O CONVENIENZA? L’ITALIA NELLA DIMENSIONE EUROPEA.

In recent years, the debate on what the international literature defines as «Shadow Economy» has become more intense even under the pressure of the crisis, first financial and then economic, which started from 2007 with the consequent need to ensure higher tax revenues because of fiscal consolidation. The issue, particularly strong in Italy in terms of public opinion, but also debated and analyzed on a scientific level, is also reflected in all the advanced economies starting from countries belonging to the European Union. In this context, the aim of the paper is, on the basis of recently available datasets, to analyze the position of Italy in this respect in the context of the European geography of the phenomenon, trying to see if they exist similarities at the scale of the of the various countries as well as a possible sensitivity to recessives phenomena, considered as response (resilience) of the economic and social systems to the shock caused by the crisis.