The shadow economy is booming and remains a major challenge for governments, businesses, and society. A recent episode of the SWR Kultur Forum addresses exactly this issue: “Dirty Business – What can be done about the black market and illicit funds?” now available in the ARD Audiothek.

We are particularly pleased that Regpit CEO Dr. Jacob Wende was invited as a guest and discussed the growing shadow economy together with host Geli Hensolt, Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Friedrich Schneider (University of Linz), and Markus Zydra (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

The discussion focused, among other things, on the following aspects:

• How significantly illicit funds impact the economy and democratic structures
• Whether new laws are sufficient to effectively curb undeclared work and illegal financial flows
• What additional measures are needed to ensure that regulation is effective in practice

The program also highlights the scale of the issue: around €500 billion is said to bypass the tax system each year, along with an estimated money laundering volume of over €50 billion annually in Germany.

We welcome this important public discussion and the increased attention to a topic that goes far beyond compliance: it is about fair markets, protection against abuse, and trust in functioning rules.

The full episode is available in the ARD Audiothek.