The Shadow Component of the Transport Services Market of Ukraine: Scale and Impact on the Economy of Regions

The article analyzes the factors of shadowing and the essence of illegal operations in the transport services market. The rates of shadowing of the type of economic activity «Transport, warehouse, postage and courier activities» for the regions of Ukraine in 2013 and 2018 are defined. A tendency towards reducing the shadow sector of the transport services sphere in the majority of regions is identified. The highest level of shadowing of the transport services market regarding the gross value added in 2018 was observed in the Luhansk region and in the city of Kyiv, and the lowest – in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The results of the regression analysis of the panel data of the indicators of socio-economic development and activities of transport services in the regions of Ukraine for the period 2013-2018 confirmed a direct link between the share of small businesses in the total number of enterprises and the level of shadowing of the transport services market, which indicates the attractiveness of such activities in terms of generating illegal income. A direct link between the consumer price index and the level of shadowing of transport services is identified, due to the increase in the unaccounted-for money supply, which falls into the legal sector of the economy, and the increase in prices as a result of the under-profiting of services. The direct impact of the increase in the share of profitable enterprises on the consumer price index confirms the participation of such enterprises in the formation of the shadow transport services market due to the concealment of some part of the revenues. The positive influence of capital investment in the transport services sector on inflationary processes is reflected in the reduction in the consumer price index while improving the investment efficiency.