This paper surveys the literature on the definitions and theories of the informal economy (IE). It outlines the main differences in the definitional approaches of informality and proposes a ...definition for the IE that may be consistent with measurement and policy. The literature review distinguishes three, not mutually exclusive, approaches to the IE: the “neoclassical,” the “macro‐econometric,” and the “conceptual” perspectives. I conclude the survey by outlining a framework that points out the main differences and similarities among the schools of thought on the nature of the IE. From a normative perspective, a leading recommendation emerges: a “one‐size‐fits‐all” policy response is inadequate to deal with the heterogeneous nature of the IE. Policy measures should be tailored around the distinct segments of the IE grounded in terms of characteristics, contexts, and needs of the informal units.
We analyse the effectiveness of catastrophe bonds for the financial management of catastrophic risk in the transport and infrastructure industries. We illustrate how these financial instruments are ...becoming a valuable tool for non-financial firms in the risk management of catastrophic events, supplementing the traditional insurance/reinsurance channel, especially during times of constraints in the insurance industry. We also review cat bond issues sponsored by infrastructure and transport companies, highlighting the usefulness of these structured financial instruments in the management of the catastrophe exposure in these industries. Policy indications are finally given.
In 2015, an estimated 1.2 billion people, or 16% of the global population, did not have access to electricity. At the same time, solid waste generation rates have risen fast, reaching 30 million tons ...in 1980, 200 million tons today, and projected to exceed over 11 million tons per day by 2100. The waste from cities alone is already enough to fill a line of trash trucks 5,000 kilometers long every day. Solutions therefore must be found, with Waste to Energy (WtE) conversion a strong contender, which presently represents a $29 billion industry globally. By use of cluster sampling, a sample of 361 individuals was surveyed by use of a 63-item, 7-level, Likert type agreement scale questionnaire on the study’s four constructs. A confirmatory factor analysis was run prior to the structural equation model, with analysis undertaken by use of LISREL 9.1. All causal factors in the model were shown to have a positive influence on the creation of shared value (CSV) of the waste management power plant and the local community, with 68% of the variance of the factor affecting CSV (R2). Ranked in importance, the three latent variables were government policy (GP), the waste management power plant (WMPP), and community participation (CP), with a total score of 0.83, 0.37 and 0.36, respectively.
A discrete dynamic model (DDM) is used to describe the pace of the world GDP annual change rate. The Mandelbrot set of DDM was constructed for different time intervals to assess the ability of the ...world economic system to maintain a steady pace of development. The article shows that the world economic system is in a fundamentally non-equilibrium state. The Mandelbrot set was proposed to use as a generalized image ("pictogram") of the world economy's ability to maintain sustained development rates.
This study focuses on the role of the retirement motive for saving behaviour. It examines empirically the research hypothesis that controlling for a set of economic and sociodemographic individual ...characteristics, households reporting the retirement motive are more likely to have higher savings compared to households driven exclusively by other motives of saving. Micro data from the three waves (2011, 2013 and 2015) of the Polish household survey Social Diagnosis is used for the study. In an ordered logistic regression framework it proves that the old age saving motive is a significant predictor of the size of savings relative to household income.
The paper examines the causal relationship between FDI and economic growth (GDP) in thirteen ECOWAS countries using both time domain and frequency domain testing procedures using annual data from ...1970 to 2015. The results showed that time domain is not adequate in detecting causality. The time domain detected causality in only four out of thirteen countries whilst the frequency domain detected causality at different frequencies and cycles in nine out of thirteen countries. The findings of this study indicate the importance of frequency domain causality, that it decomposes causality at different frequencies and subsequently detects causality at certain cycles lengths. The general observation that economic growth leads FDI calls for ECOWAS leaders to rethink about painful sacrifices they make to attract FDI into the region.
This study employs the use of Box-Jenkins’ ARIMA (1,1,0) model for the estimation and forecasts based on the annual data of EPF balances, which serve as a proxy to EPF sustainability, together with ...the yearly data of possible determinants namely investment earnings, nominal income, elderly population, life expectancy and mortality rate in Malaysia for the 1960 – 2010 and 2010 - 2014 periods, respectively. Amid a negative sentiment and conceivably bleak outlook on the long term EPF inadequacy to provide adequate incomes to elderly persons, the prognosis of this study instead reveals otherwise and is found to be in support for the long term prospect and sustainability of the EPF. With necessary improvements are underway to strengthen the performance of the administered EPF system, it is likely to believe that the EPF organization is committed to promoting its product as a more inclusive and equitable scheme in Malaysia.
Predicting financial distress have significant importance in corporate finance as it serves as an effective early warning system for the related stakeholders. The study applies the most admired ...financial distress prediction O-score model and compares its predictive accuracy with estimated logit model. The study estimates logit model by including the profitability ratios, liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, and cash flow ratios. This study filled the gap by using the cash flow ratios to predict financial distress for Pakistani listed firms. The sample for the estimation model consists of 290 firms with 45 distressed and 245 healthy firms for the period 2006-2016 and covers all sectors of Pakistan Stock Exchange. The study provides important insights on the role of different financial ratio in predicting financial distress and shows that estimated logit model produces higher accuracy rate in predicting financial distress.
Many developing countries attained high growth rates in different periods but income differences did not reduce significantly in these periods due to increase in income inequalities. Therefore, the ...key objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between income differences, trade and institutions in developing countries. This study has used panel data of the year 2000 to 2014 to explore the relationship between these variables. This study is based on sampling of two groups; 25 middle income countries and 24 low income countries. Pooled OLS, panel fixed effect and Driscoll and Kraay techniques were used in this study. The results showed the negative relations of imports, a significant role of political institutions and insignificant role of economic institutions in income distribution with GDP per capita among low income and middle-income countries. Moreover, the current study suggested that governments in developing countries should focus upon improving the performance of political and economic institutions in order to improve their prospects of getting investment opportunities.
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