Informality remains widespread in South Asia despite decades of economic growth. The low earnings and high vulnerability in the informal sector make this a major development issue for the region. ...Yet, there is no consensus on its causes and consequences, with the debate polarized between a view that informality is a problem of regulatory evasion and should be eradicated, and another which equates informality with economic exclusion. These views are at odds with the heterogeneity observed among informal firms. Recent advances in analyzing informality as the outcome of firm dynamics in distorted economic environments can help reconcile them. Building on these advances, the approach adopted in this volume clarifies that there are different types of informality, with different drivers and consequences. Using this approach, the papers in this volume revisit old questions about the relationship of informality to regulation and taxation, and also pose new ones, such as how digital technologies and multi-faceted policy designs can improve prospects in the informal sector. They have four main messages. First, informality in South Asia is dominated by firms that happen to be outside the purview of regulations because they are small, as opposed to those that remain small to escape regulations. Second, reforms of business regulations tend to have small direct effects on the informal sector, though they could have sizable indirect impacts on it if they succeed in removing major inefficiencies in the broader economy. Third, e-commerce platforms (and similar technologies) offer new opportunities to informal firms and workers, but many of them lack complementary skills or credit to benefit from such technologies. Fourth, a combination of contributory and non-contributory programs recognizing the heterogenous saving capacities of informal workers may be necessary to achieve more universal coverage of social insurance. A multi-pronged strategy is needed to tackle the developmental challenges presented by informality.
Ubiquitous illegal lotteries known as policy flourished in
Chicago's Black community during the overlapping waves of the Great
Migration. Policy "queens" owned stakes in lucrative operations
while ...women writers and clerks canvased the neighborhood, passed
out winnings, and kept the books.
Elizabeth Schroeder Schlabach examines the complexities of Black
women's work in policy gambling. Policy provided Black women with a
livelihood for themselves and their families. At the same time,
navigating gender expectations, aggressive policing, and other
hazards of the infromal economy led them to refashion ideas about
Black womanhood and respectability. Policy earnings also funded
above-board enterprises ranging from neighborhood businesses to
philanthropic institutions, and Schlabach delves into the various
ways Black women straddled the illegal policy business and
reputable community involvement.
Vivid and revealing, Dream Books and Gamblers tells the
stories of Black women in the underground economy and how they used
their work to balance the demands of living and laboring in Black
Chicago.
•There is divergence in several aspects of the non-observed (or parallel) economy.•The meta-analysis shows that the impact of the parallel economy on economic growth is insignificant.•There is no ...publication bias in this literature.•Effects differ with type and number of countries, data structure, methodology, citations number, and publication year.
Academics, politicians, the public in general and researchers have great interest in the non-observed economy. However, there is divergence in its definition, accounting methodology and economic effects. In this paper we conduct a meta-analysis on the empirical literature that estimates the impact of the parallel economy on economic growth. We conclude that there is no publication bias and that the average effect of the parallel economy on economic growth is insignificant. However, the reported effects differ considerably with the type and number of countries included in the sample of primary studies, the structure of the data, the methodology used to measure the parallel economy, the number of citations of primary studies, and the year they were published.
A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these ...economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.
Workers' skills are an essential asset for firms to recover from the COVID-19 shock and succeed in the twin digital and green transitions. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) face special ...barriers to investing in human capital because of their size and more limited access to information and capital markets. This report identifies policies that are successful in promoting SMEs' investment in the skills of employees, managers or entrepreneurs.
The Shadow Economy Schneider, Friedrich; Enste, Dominik H.
02/2003
eBook
Illicit work, social security fraud, economic crime and other shadow economy activities are fast becoming an international problem. Friedrich Schneider and Dominik H. Enste use currency demand, ...physical input (electricity) method, and the model approach to estimate the size of the shadow economy in 76 developing, transition and OECD-countries. They argue that during the 1990s the average size of a shadow economy varied from 12 per cent of GDP for OECD, to 23 per cent for transition and to 39% for developing countries. They examine the causes and consequences of this development using an integrated approach explaining deviant behaviour, which combines the findings of economic, sociological and psychological research. The authors suggest that increasing taxation, social security contributions, rising state regulatory activities and the decline of the tax morale, are all driving forces behind this growth, especially in OECD-countries. They propose a reform of state institutions to improve the dynamics of the official economy.
The Dominican Republic has posted impressive economic growth
rates over the past thirty years. Despite this, the generation of
new, good jobs has been remarkably weak. How have ordinary and poor
...Dominicans worked and lived in the shadow of the country's
conspicuous growth rates? This book considers this question through
an ethnographic exploration of the popular economy in the Dominican
capital. Focusing on the city's precarious small businesses,
including furniture manufacturers, food stalls, street-corner
stores, and savings and credit cooperatives, Krohn-Hansen shows how
people make a living, tackle market shifts, and the factors that
characterize their relationship to the state and pervasive
corruption.
Empirically grounded, this book examines the condition of the
urban masses in Santo Domingo, offering an original and captivating
contribution to the scholarship on popular economic practices,
urban changes, and today's Latin America and the Caribbean. This
will be essential reading for scholars and policy makers.
Power and Informality in Urban Africa Laura Stark, Annika Björnsdotter Teppo / Laura Stark, Annika Björnsdotter Teppo
2021, 2022, 2022-01-27
eBook, Book
Open access
Urban Africa is undergoing a transformation unlike anywhere else in the world, as unprecedented numbers of people migrate to rapidly expanding cities. But despite the growing body of work on urban ...Africa, the lives of these new city dwellers have received relatively little attention, particularly when it comes to crucial issues of power and inequality. This interdisciplinary collection brings together contributions from urban studies, geography, and anthropology to provide new insights into the social and political dynamics of African cities, as well as uncovering the causes and consequences of urban inequality. Featuring rich new ethnographic research data and case studies drawn from across the continent, the collection shows that Africa’s new urbanites have adapted to their environs in ways which often defy the assumptions of urban planners. By examining the experiences of these urban residents in confronting issues of power and agency, the contributors consider how such insights can inform more effective approaches to research, city planning and development both in Africa and beyond.
Here, for the first time, two of Russia's leading economists provide an authoritative analysis of the transition to a democratic market economy that has taken place in Russia since 1990. Serguey ...Braguinsky, a Russian economist with extensive international experience, and Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal "Yabloko" party and a major public figure in Russia, focus on the institutions that are critical to a successful transition and the economic incentives needed to make these institutions work. Finally, they discuss in detail the specific components of the economic processes that are necessary for economic transition in general and they draw lessons that can be applied to other nations dealing with similar transitions. In 1989, Grigory Yavlinsky became a member of the Commission for Economic Reform and wrote the groundbreaking "500 Day Plan, " which outlined the first program of transition to a market economy. Two years later, he co-wrote the program of strategic cooperation between the Soviet government and the West (known as the "Grand Bargain"). Here he and Serguey Braguinsky examine what went wrong with the Russian plan--and what is needed to put the economy back on the road to becoming a fully functioning market economy. The first section of the book presents a new interpretation of the political economy of the socialist state and the incentives and institutions that underpin it, with an emphasis on the present Russian situation. The second part deals with the political economy of "spontaneous transition" and the inefficiencies inherent in economies that lack the organizations and institutions that inhere in established Western democratic economies. In the final section, the authors present a program of actions to put the economic transition in Russia back on track, based on their assessment of the actual current state of both the economy and the government. Their approach is unique in emphasizing organizational evolution at the microeconomic level instead of stressing macroeconomic issues such as money and inflation that are at the heart of most arguments. This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book and one that will be widely discussed and debated.
