THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL ECONOMY IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY: AN ASSESSMENT SPECIFIC TO TURKEY'S DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Abstract

Change is an inevitable phenomenon for societies. While agricultural communities were at the forefront in primitive societies, we are faced with a digitalized society in today's information society. The most important factor that brings the information society to the fore is the rapid spread of information from the top to the bottom of the society. With the digitalized society, market areas, the nature of economic relations and, as a result, the existing legal regulations in the economy are forced to change. While the share of traditional trade in global trade has gradually decreased over the last three decades, the share of the digital economy continues to increase. Since its inception, it has been observed that while the digital economy's own revenue share has increased against traditional trade, it has brought along some problems arising from the lack of a precise definition. One of the most fundamental problems in international dimensions is the informal economy. Discussions continue on the fight against the informal economy on a global scale, and many countries are planning and implementing plans to use the digital economic space more through digital platforms in the fight against the informal economy. Through digital platforms, users and businesses have the opportunity to access data to the desired extent.In addition to giving clues about the consumption taste and preference trends of consumers, these data are used by businesses to increase data production and to reach higher levels of product variety and quality.With the data obtained in the digital economy process, the transition to the formal economy is ensured. As the acquisition of data on sellers and consumers facilitates the transition to the formal economy, the audit mechanism of tax administrations can operate more comfortably and effectively. Countries plan their future with the development plans they implement for a certain period of time. Turkey is a country that plans its future with its five-year development plans. In this respect, the evaluation of the objectives and implementation results in Turkey's development plans will enable to reveal the deficiencies in preventing informality and to shape appropriate solution mechanisms.