Why do you cheat?

What are the factors which determine fraudulent behaviour? Knowing somebody else who commits fraud seems to have significant influence on people’s own behaviour. ‘That can be an important starting point for the policy, in other words breaking this spiral of ‘others do it as well’ or ‘everybody does it,’ ‘so I will as well,’’ suggest the researchers.

Receiving social security benefits (unemployment, retirement, etc.) has a negative impact on the demand and on the offer of work on the black. That is the opposite of what is generally expected as regards the reasons given for working on the black, in other words above all a survival strategy for social security benefit receivers, in order to round out their modest income and/or to consume at lower prices.

The self employed for their part seem to seek work on the black relatively more. On the other hand they are not particularly pressed to offer it, and nor are they the all category champions of fiscal fraud, contrary to the widely held opinions people have of them.

Asked about the causes of working on the black the respondents mention almost exclusively fiscal pressure, and thus the advantages of escaping it. As for the most effective measures to combat undeclared work, they also draw attention to the monitoring process, the risks of being caught out and the sanctions which arise from it. Political decision makers could deduce from this that they must not expect everything from simply reducing fiscal pressure, but that the public also expect an adequate monitoring system to be established.

‘Killing’ work on the black: risky?

Amongst the striking or surprising observations which appeared at the outcome of this investigation we will mention, for example, that in Flanders it is relatively more frequently stated that working on the black emanates from business companies, whilst the francophone respondents speak more an informal circuit of friends, colleagues, acquaintances and the family. Another factor deserves the attention of the authorities who wish to fight fraud but to whom it is often objected that numerous activities would disappear if work on the black were ‘killed’: two thirds of the respondents would have bought the product or the service on the regular market if it was the only place it was offered, whilst a quarter of the sample would have resorted to do-it-yourself.

As for knowing what would push the respondents to acquire products or services on the regular circuit, half of them reply that they would let themselves be convinced by guarantees against faults or defects: a possible starting point for a campaign against the ‘black economy’, the researchers think. The responses of social security benefit recipients as to the ‘adequate’ nature of their benefits provide an image of a ‘welfare state under pressure’: 58% of the beneficiaries of a replacement revenue consider it too low or much too low, and 35% estimate it ‘just enough’ in comparison with their previous income. But that does not push these respondents to work or consume on the black more than the others.

On the basis of the results provided by this pilot study the researchers feel that the time has come to carry out an investigation on a larger scale, with a sample sufficiently large to be really representative of the population. They admit that the method they suggest is costly in time and money. They nonetheless add that if such an survey should be carried out at regular intervals, it certainly does not have to be done annually. The investment would thus be matched with a certain durability. Enough to convince the public authorities?