Bankauskienė, Justina

The major purpose of this research is to empirically assess the level of the circular economy in the EU Member States. The empirical research revealed that the major criteria for assessing the level of the circular economy in the EU, according to the experts, are material footprint, patents related to waste management and recycling, and material import dependency, while intra EU trade and private investment in the circular economy sector are considered least important. All the methods indicated Germany as the EU leader in the area of circular economy, Italy and the Netherlands also being high rated. The lowest ranks were estimated for Bulgaria, Romania, Finland and Estonia, which could improve their situation by adopting the best practices of the leading countries (e.g. use innovative business models at the stage of product development, strengthen cooperation between business companies, governmental agencies, NGOs and academic communities). Research limitations: subjective nature of the expert evaluation, which could lead to diferent indicator weights if similar research is conducted in other countries; insufciency of the statistical data.

Circular economy principles are proposed to solve problems of various topics, such as waste reduction, prevention of pollution and climate change, conservation of resources and security of their supply, economic resilience, therefore it is important not only to follow them, but also to properly assess their impact, so that interested parties could make informed decisions and develop effective strategies to promote circular economy principles and practices. However, as can be seen in the scientific literature, despite the abundance of literature that discusses circular economy evaluation indicators, the comprehensiveness of circular economy evaluation is missing. Thus formulating a scientific problem: What indicators can be used to assess the level of the circular economy in countries? The purpose of the research. After analyzing the theoretical aspects of the evaluation of the circular economy, to assess the level of the circular economy in the EU countries. Research methods include comparative and systematic analysis of scientific literature, Entropy method.

The shadow labour market is a significant part of the economy. The fact that the informal labour is primarily focused on value creation suggests that it is important not to fully eliminate informal activities, but to transform them from an informal to a formal mode. Literature analysis revealed that comprehensive research of the determinants of the shadow labour market must consider not only general, but also specific factors that most significantly affect a particular market because this approach allows to develop the relevant preventive measures. The major purpose of this research is to assess the impact of the relevant shadow economy determinants on Lithuanian shadow labour market and provide the recommendations concerning reduction of this market. The results of the respondent survey and expert evaluation confirmed that Lithuanian shadow labour market is most significantly affected by low tax morale and low wages. The other influential factors are excessive tax burden, income inequality, and distrust in the national government. The cases of informal work are most common in the construction, wholesale and retail, motor vehicle and motorcycle repair, and accommodation and catering service sectors. To diminish the size of Lithuanian shadow labour market, it is recommendable to ensure stability of the tax system, reduce wage-related taxes, and raise the population’s tax morale by educating the public about the consequences of the informal economy and arranging the appropriate tax administration.