VAT evasion reduces significantly the budget revenues and is often approximated by way of VAT Gap, which refers to the difference between the total VAT that should have been collected according to the applicable VAT Law (VTTL) and VAT actually collected by public budgets. The phenomenon of VAT Gap, to a greater or lesser extent, is an acute problem in all countries of the European Union (Member States), regardless of their level of economic development. Over the past two decades, the volume of VAT evasion has had an alarmingly upward trend. Therefore, the VAT Gap should be placed in a broader context than the economic one, also taking into account economic structure, institutional variables, legal, ethical and other dimensions that affect the business environment, respectively the society. Moreover, according to the World Economic Outlook „Growth and Institutions” (2003) IMF report, the institutional factor, as a general and defining arrangement for any economic system, it is the primary “responsibility” of gap development. The objective of this study is to analyse the strength and direction of the relationship between the VAT Gap and the following economic structure and institutional variables: Fiscal Freedom (FF), Government Effectiveness (GE), Human Development Index (HDI), Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and People at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE). Our study is consolidated on a 2009 – 2018 database, for the EU-26 Member States, including United Kingdom, divided into four groups. Within the study, we developed a Spearman Correlation between VAT Gap and each variable, aiming to point up whether these variables have a strong positive or negative influence on the VAT Gap.

In times when the national economy needs increased financial support from governments, the fiscal space they have and the determinants of public debt come to the fore. Sudden increases in public spending or significant decreases in public revenue represent fiscal risks, and the level of sovereign debt is a measure to quantify fiscal risk. At international level, banking crises, government guarantees, publicprivate partnerships, companies with majority state capital, and non-performing loans are revealed by history as the main sources of financial crises and fiscal risk. This study aims to identify whether social assistance expenditures, government guarantees, public-private partnerships, non-performing loans, or tax revenues influence the evolution of the government debt of the Member States of the European Union. The data used were taken from Eurostat and were organised as panel data, the analysed period is 2010-2018. To estimate the regressions, we used the Eviews software, and the results obtained revealed that social assistance is the variable that most strongly influences, in the same sense, the public debt. This points to the fact that changes in pension and social assistance spending, for example, topics with greater social impact, are capable of further indebtedness and have long-term effects on government spending on interest.

This study examines the impact of company-level financial indicators on firm value in a developed capital market. Using a dataset consisting of U.S. non-financial companies over a 10-year period, namely 2015-2024, the analysis investigates how performance, indebtedness, liquidity, asset tangibility, sales growth, and company size influence firm value, which is measured using two complementary market-based ratios, price-to-book ratio and price-to-earnings ratio, that capture different aspects of investors’ expectations. A dummy variable is also included to capture the Covid-19 pandemic crisis period and its market-wide effects. The empirical analysis consists of fixed effects regression models estimated using unbalanced panel data. The findings suggest that traditional financial indicators remain significant determinants of company value. Thus, indebtedness, asset tangibility, and sales growth lead to an increase in firm value, while liquidity may decrease company value. Performance and firm size exhibit mixed effects, depending on the valuation measure. The Covid-19 pandemic period is associated with higher valuation multiples, reflecting supportive financial market conditions. These results provide useful insights for investors and financial analysts who rely on accounting-based indicators in valuation models, as well as for corporate managers whose financing decisions influence how companies are priced in capital markets. The findings are also relevant for creditors and policymakers, as they assess how key financial indicators are reflected in company value, particularly during periods of market-wide economic disruption.

Apparently, defining fiscal behavior is a relatively easy approach, but in essence, this concept requires the research of several elements, both economic and psychological. The taxpayer is the component of the tax system that reflects the fiscal policy and, implicitly, its changes. Thus, research in the field has shown that two types of behavior can be identified by combining several economic, psychological, religious or cultural factors: fiscal compliance or fiscal non-compliance. The research ideea may be motivated by the growing importance of tax behavior and compliance subject, especially in the current economic situation, when taxation has become a controversy at any time and in any society, regardless of the degree of democracy. Moreover, tax compliance does not refer only to the economic aspects, but also to the behavioral aspects that influence the process of raising public taxes. The econometric study analyzes the fiscal correlation between the public debt and tax variables such as tax revenues from direct and indirect taxes or social contributions, conected to the dynamics of the gross domestic product and the scale of payments balance. The study is conducted for two groups of countries: developed and emerging countries. The purpose of this research is to identify both the impact of tax revenues on direct, indirect taxes and social contributions, and that of the dynamics of gross domestic product and scale of payments balance on public debt, showing how fiscal behavior is influenced by the two groups of countries and what factors contribute to this.