Informal Sector

On 29 April 2021, the European Platform tackling undeclared work (hereafter the ‘Platform’) held a webinar on ‘COVID 19: combating fraud in short-term financial support schemes’.

The event brought together 31 participants from 20 countries, representing labour inspectorates and other enforcement authorities, as well as European level social partners, and representatives from Eurofound, the European Commission and the European Labour Authority (ELA).

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”
- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Despite having a fairly long and enlarged provisions including a host of other laws enacted by the government, the empirical reality tells a quite different story that women’s conditions and human rights situation remains gloomy and marginal. The concept of rights and human rights of women as such particularly in the realm of economic and social rights, has been markedly absent from the Indian Government’s activities and approaches to gender equality (Subramanian, 1995). Thus, women are still subdued in our society, they are still not economically emancipated. Not only developing countries even in developed countries the women are facing similar hurdles in achieving equal status to that of men (Engineer, 1992: 32-33), be it politics, administration, civil service, trade, industries, women are extremely inadequately represented.
Thus this study aims to understand the meaning of empowerment and find the relationship between women empowerment and their livelihood engagement. To be more specific does economic empowerment means overall empowerment or is there need to have a holistic view to study empowerment.

This study was commissioned by Practical Action Nepal Office, under the PRISM (Poverty Reduction of Informal Workers in Solid Waste Management Sector) project. Practical Action aims to reduce poverty in developing countries by introducing appropriate technologies for the communities, demonstrating results, sharing knowledge, building capacity to replicate and influencing others for scaling up. Through the PRISM Project, Practical Action aims to improve the living conditions of the informal waste workers (IWWs) and enhance the social protection of the vulnerable groups dependent on solid waste for their livelihoods in five municipalities of Kathmandu Valley. As a part of the PRISM Project, Practical Action commissioned two country studies of Social Protection for Informal Waste Workers. The first study was commissioned for Philippines and the second study for India. The studies were to be based solely on existing secondary sources . It is expected that the study of policies and practices in India and the lessons emerging from it would help Practical Action advocate better policies and practices in Nepal, thereby leading to better social protection for IWWs in Nepal.

This article presents empirical evidence from household and firm survey data collected during 2009−2010 on the implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law and effects on China’s workers. The Government and local labor bureaus have made substantial efforts to enforce the provisions of the new Law, which has likely contributed to reversing a trend toward increasing informalization of the urban labor market. Enforcement of the Law, however, varies substantially across cities. The article analyzes the determinants of worker satisfaction with the Law’s enforcement, workers’ propensity to have a labor contract, their awareness of the Law’s content and their likelihood of initiating disputes, and finds that all are highly correlated with education level, especially for migrants. Although higher labor costs may have had a negative impact on manufacturing employment growth, this has not led to an overall increase in aggregate unemployment or prevented the rapid growth of real wages. Less p...

Ovaj izvještaj istražuje pokretače neprijavljenog gospodarstva u Hrvatskoj, dosadašnju organizaciju borbe protiv neprijavljenog rada i preispituje aktualni te potencijalni pristup politika i mjera u rješavanju problema neprijavljenog rada u Hrvatskoj.

Pokretači neprijavljenog gospodarstva u Hrvatskoj
Značajni je napredak nedavno postignut u objašnjavanju odrednica neprijavljenog rada.  Da bi se objasnio neprijavljeni rad, podrazumijeva se da svako društvo ima institucije koje određuju, prate i provode „pravila igre“ vezane za ono što je društveno prihvatljivo.  U svim društvima postoje dva tipa takvih institucija: formalne institucije koje određuju „državni moral“ o tome što je društveno prihvatljivo (tj. zakoni i propisi) i neformalne institucije koje određuju „građanski moral“ (tj. zajednička društvena pravila koja su najčešće nepisana). 
Gledano iz perspektive navedenih institucija neprijavljeni se rad pojavljuje kada se zbog propusta formalnih institucija državni moral počne razlikovati od građanskog.  Posljednjih godina više je studija prepoznalo o kojim se propustima formalnih institucija radi. Neprijavljeni rad prevladava kada imamo: niži BDP po glavi stanovnika; rašireniju korupciju u javnom sektoru i slabiju kvalitetu upravljanja; nisku potrošnju za intervencije na tržištu rada u svrhu pomoći najranjivijim skupinama; niska izdavanja za socijalnu zaštitu i sustave socijalnih transfera koji su neučinkoviti u smanjivanju razine nejednakosti i teške materijalne deprivacije. 
Stoga, da bi se riješio problem neprijavljenog gospodarstva u Hrvatskoj potrebno je nastaviti sa sljedećim mjerama:
• poboljšati razinu BDP-a po glavi stanovnika,
• poboljšati upravljanje i smanjiti korupciju u javnom sektoru,
• održati i povećati potrošnju za intervencije na tržištu rada u svrhu pomoći najranjivijim skupinama sa aktualne niske, relativno osnovne razine,
• ustrajati na povećanju izdavanja za socijalnu zaštitu, i to povezati s 
• razvijanjem učinkovitijih sustava socijalnih transfera koji smanjuju razinu nejednakosti u prihodima i razinu teške materijalne deprivacije u hrvatskom društvu.
Pored navedenih strukturnih odrednica, postoje mnoge dodatne organizacijske i političke inicijative koje se mogu poduzimati u rješavanju problema neprijavljenog gospodarstva. 

Organizacija borbe protiv neprijavljenog rada: institucionalni okvir
Hrvatska nema nijednu agenciju zaduženu za borbu protiv neprijavljenog rada, ni središnje tijelo koje bi osiguralo koordinirano djelovanje različitih sektora uključenih u rješavanje problema neprijavljenog rada. Umjesto toga, postoji pristup koji je vrlo fragmentaran. Nadležnost za rješavanje neprijavljenog rada raspoređena je po cijelom nizu institucija od kojih svaka preuzima odgovornost za različite segmente neprijavljenog gospodarstva. Dok je kršenje radnog prava u nadležnosti Inspektorata rada, neplaćanje poreza u nadležnosti je Ministarstva financija, a prijevare u osiguranju i socijalnom osiguranju su u nadležnosti tijela socijalnog osiguranja. Trenutačno je suradnja između različitih institucija u borbi protiv neprijavljenog rada nedostatna u strateškom i operativnom smislu i u smislu dijeljenja podataka te ne postoje zajednički tematski ciljevi. Stoga je potrebno unaprijediti kvalitetu upravljanja. Potrebna je reakcija koja je više koordinirana, a taj problem će se dijelom riješiti odlukom kojom se krajem 2017. godine osniva Državni inspektorat.
Uključenost socijalnih partnera u rješavanju problema neprijavljenog rada za sada je relativno slaba a njihovo sudjelovanje u procesu donošenja odluka zanemarivo je. S obzirom na to da rješavanje problema neprijavljenog rada zahtjeva njihovo sudjelovanje, preporuča se njihovo intenzivnije uključivanje. 

Aktualni pristup politika i mjera: evaluacija
Hrvatska trenutno ima relativno suženi pristup odvraćanja i mjere politika su uvelike usredotočene na odvraćanje sudjelovanja u neprijavljenom radu povećavanjem kazni i rizika od otkrivanje. Malo se pažnje posvećuje poboljšanju prednosti i poticaja prijavljenog rada, ili čak neizravnim preventivnim alatima kao što su kampanje za podizanje svijesti i rješavanja nepravilnosti i propusta formalnih institucija (npr. osiguravanje proceduralne i redistributivne pravednosti i pravičnosti te provođenje sveobuhvatnih ekonomskih i socijalnih politika). Stoga je potrebno odmaknuti se od pretjeranog oslanjanja na mjere odvraćanja prema široj primjeni preventivnih poticaja kao i prema podizanju svijesti, i usredotočiti se na ciljanje i rješavanje najvećih pokretača neprijavljenog gospodarstva.
 

Policy makers often assume that individuals using informal finance are forced to do so because they lack access to formal financial services. Research in a large agricultural bank in Egypt, however, showed that many of its employees participated in informal finance. Interviews with villagers in a community with a branch of the bank also showed extensive involvement in informal finance. The popularity of informal finance among people with easy access to banks suggests that formal finance in Egypt may not be providing the types of financial services that people demand and they therefore, create these services informally.

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Many developing southeast Asian governments are not capturing full rent from domestic forest logging operations. Such rent losses are commonly related to institutional failures, where informal institutions tend to dominate the control of forestry activity in spite of weakly enforced regulations. Our model is an attempt to add a new dimension to thinking about deforestation. We present a simple conceptual model, based on individual decisions rather than social or forest planning, which includes the human dynamics of participation in informal activity and the relatively slower ecological dynamics of changes in forest resources. We demonstrate how incumbent informal logging operations can be persistent, and that any spending aimed at replacing the informal institutions can only be successful if it pushes institutional settings past some threshold.

Background Effective case management is central to reducing malaria mortality and morbidity worldwide, but only a minority of those affected by malaria, have access to prompt effective treatment. In Kenya, the Division of Malaria Control is committed to ensuring that 80 percent of childhood fevers are treated with effective anti-malarial medicines within 24 hours of fever onset, but this target is largely unmet. This review aimed to document evidence on access to effective malaria treatment in Kenya, identify factors that influence access, and make recommendations on how to improve prompt access to effective malaria treatment. Since treatment-seeking patterns for malaria are similar in many settings in sub-Saharan Africa, the findings presented in this review have important lessons for other malaria endemic countries. Methods Internet searches were conducted in PUBMED (MEDLINE) and HINARI databases using specific search terms and strategies. Grey literature was obtained by soliciting reports from individual researchers working in the treatment-seeking field, from websites of major organizations involved in malaria control and from international reports. Results The review indicated that malaria treatment-seeking occurs mostly in the informal sector; that most fevers are treated, but treatment is often ineffective. Irrational drug use was identified as a problem in most studies, but determinants of this behaviour were not documented. Availability of non-recommended medicines over-the-counter and the presence of substandard anti-malarials in the market are well documented. Demand side determinants of access include perception of illness causes, severity and timing of treatment, perceptions of treatment efficacy, simplicity of regimens and ability to pay. Supply side determinants include distance to health facilities, availability of medicines, prescribing and dispensing practices and quality of medicines. Policy level factors are around the complexity and unclear messages regarding drug policy changes. Conclusion Kenya, like many other African countries, is still far from achieving the Abuja targets. The government, with support from donors, should invest adequately in mechanisms that promote access to effective treatment. Such approaches should focus on factors influencing multiple dimensions of access and will require the cooperation of all stakeholders working in malaria control.

This paper argues that unemployment persistence in countries like Tunisia is not caused only by labor market rigidities and by population growth. The size of the informal sector and the low level of investment within the formal sector and in public infrastructure and services are other important factors. The main purpose of this paper is to show that the larger the size of the informal sector the more persistent unemployment will be, and that the larger the share of investment allocated to the formal sector the lower and least persistent unemployment will be. We also show that an exogenous increase of the wage rate paid by the informal sector, for instance as a result of the enforcement of some labor regulations within the informal sector, will (paradoxically) reduce unemployment. The reason is that it reduces the gap between work conditions in the formal and the informal sectors and slows down the migration process to the formal sector. The link between unemployment, the size of th...

This book describes and analyzes critical aspects of the labor market and social protection in the Arab world. The authors address the interrelationship between labor, human development, and social well-being in the Middle East and North Africa region -- an interaction that is viewed against the backdrop of a globalization process that is a crucial shaping factor in national and international relations alike. The authors scrutinize the implications for workers of the new forms of insecurity being ushered in by the globalization era. At the forefront is the issue of social protection, which creates several dilemmas for policymakers, since formal social security covers only a small percentage of the labor force. The idea of social reinsurance, which would integrate the informal sector and allow for social dialog, emerges at various levels, and there is general agreement that any such dialog, or new social contract, must include government, the private sector, and civil society.

Considerable debate has occurred over whether 'global cities' are witnessing polarization of their labour forces into highly paid professionals and low paid personal service workers. This paper offers evidence on paid domestic labour in London, some of which occurs in the informal sector, and considers its potential significance for the polarization debate.

Cash is the lifeblood of construction projects. According to the Public Procurement Act 2007 of Nepal, contractors can receive 20% of the total contract amount as advance payment to start the work and progress payments during the work to continue. However, the claim of these cash requires certain obligations to be fulfilled. The challenging matter for the continuation of work is the utilization of such cash to be managed in the planned way. How contractors manage the cash in the construction project is a question these days since many construction projects have time and cost overrun in Nepal. To find the answer to this question interview and document analysis techniques have been used for data collection and analysis. The study has concluded that contractors have to develop the cash flow forecasting ability to manage the cash in the construction projects in the Nepalese context.

In this paper we use the rich set of unit-level data from the most recent Egyptian household surveys (1995 -1996 and 1999 -2000) to assess changes in poverty and inequality between 1995 and 2000. The study analysis is based on the new methodology of constructing household-specific poverty lines that account for the differences in regional prices, as well as differences in the consumption preferences and size and age composition of poor households. The results show that average household expenditures rose in the second half of the 1990s and the poverty rate fell from 20% to less than 17%. In addition to the ongoing divide in the urban-rural standard of living, a new geographical/regional divide emerged in the late 1990s. Poverty was found predominantly among less-educated individuals, particularly those working in agriculture and construction, and among seasonal and occasional workers. These groups could suffer the most from the slowing economic growth evident after 1999 -2000.

The paper analyses the contribution of informally employed women (for the age group of 16-60 years) to their household budget. The urban informal sector largely absorbs women workers. We examine the determinants of their contribution to their household budgets for the survival of the families. Applying the OLS model to 937 observations, it is found that women as heads of household, women’s education, and ownership of assets by woman have a positive effect on their contribution. The burden of the large family size, household poverty, and loans availed by the household are shared by the informally employed women, as these variables positively affect their contribution. Age of the woman has a non-linear effect on woman’s contribution. The contribution first increases and then decreases by an increase in the age of the woman. Married women and women living in nuclear families contribute more to the household budget. The household per capita income and number of children (5-15 years) in ...

Even though the informal sector is the largest contributor to African
economies, very little empirical research has been done on determinants of and
barriers to product innovation in the informal sector. The study assessed how
informal businesses overcome barriers to product innovation by econometric
analysis of 996 informal enterprises in a township in KwaZulu-Natal Province
in South Africa. Analysis showed a significant positive relationship between
technological challenges and product innovation, but a significant negative
relationship between social challenges and product innovation. Also, there was
a significant positive relationship between percentage of family members in the
business and product innovation, but a significant negative relationship
between educational qualifications and product innovation. The study
concludes that, based on their high level of flexibility due to their smallness,
proximity to another and to their customers, these informal sector businesses
found suitable alternatives to their technology related barriers.

To tackle undeclared work, a voluntary disclosure initiative was implemented for a 6-month period in 2019 to enable those voluntarily disclosing to the Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate (STI) their past undeclared work to have the penalties waived that would have applied if they are compliant in the future. The outcome was that 42 million euros extra tax was collected.

An qualitative enquiry has been made to find out the employment vulnerability in rural and urban informal economy of India. Focus is also given on government responses towards it. The analysis is presented in four parts. Firstly an overview of Indian formal sector is presented followed by covid-19 pandemic impact on both rural and urban informal economy of the country. The study period is taken from 24 th March 2020 to 31st July. The informal sector is going through a very tough stage due to this pandemic. As the unorganized sector in India accounts for 93% of the workforce. Fall down in economic activities have pushed the works into the trap of poverty. Workers like daily wage earners, household-helps, MGNREGA workers etc. are severely affected. Government policy responses may help in short-run but may not be effective in the long-run. In the area of labour economics ,the study will be helpful. It can provide information separately for rural and urban informal economy and may help in policy designing.

El estudio del empleo en el sector informal y la precariedad en las condiciones de vida de la población que labora en él bien podrían verse como dos temas de amplio debate tanto teórico como empírico, pero lo cierto es que hoy por hoy aún no se encuentra una "receta" eficaz para darle solución a este problema, máxime que día a día la economía informal aumenta en lugar de decrecer.

Thanks for accepting my moodiness and making me relax, laugh and feel good. Erica van Dijk and Marloes Kraan, thank you for being my paranimfen. I will feel confident having you standing besides me. 2. Methodology 2.1 Operationalising HBEAs and Livelihoods 2.2 Research Choices and Limitations 2.3 Obtaining Knowledge 2.4 Research Methods 2.5 Four Neighbourhoods 3. Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago in Comparative Perspective 3.1 Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago: A Historical Perspective 3.2 People and Politics in an Era of Post-Independence 3.3 From Boom, to Bust, to..

To advance understanding of the reasons for informal sector entrepreneurship, this article evaluates the determinants of cross-country variations in the extent to which enterprises are unregistered when they start operating. Reporting the World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 67,515 enterprises across 142 countries, the finding is that one in five (19.9%) of the formal enterprises surveyed started-up unregistered, although this varies from all enterprises surveyed in some countries (e.g. Pakistan) to 1% of surveyed enterprises in Slovakia. To explain these cross-country variations, four competing theories are evaluated which variously assert that nonregistration is determined by either: economic under-development and poorer quality governance (modernization theory); too much state interference (neoliberal theory); too little state intervention (political economy theory); or an incongruence between the laws and rules of formal institutions and the beliefs, values, and norms of informa...

The Decree 46 of 1992 created the National Board for Community Banks which was granted the power to license community banks. Community banks were created to: (1) promote rural development through provision of banking and financial services, (2) enhance rural productive activities, and (3) improve economic status of small-scale producers in rural and urban areas. According to Marx (2004), Nigeria

Background: Society, as a whole, regards rag pickers as antisocial elements, an embarrassment to the community, and unfits to live. However, their useful contribution to society and ecology is little understood and generally ignored. The waste collected by these women is recycled and produces 25% of the paper, the packing materials, egg trays, plastic and metal household items, etc., used in homes. This benefits the society and world-ecology enormously by the production of cheaper household goods, and the slowing down of the destruction of the already threatened forests.
Objectives: To study the socio-economic condition of women rag pickers in the present-day scenario. To understand the health problems of women rag pickers. To examine the earning, spending and debt patterns of women rag pickers. Methods: The present study is based on primary and secondary data. The primary data have been collected from three towns of Warangal, Karimnagar and Khammam of Telangana State, India and the sample of the study comprised of 100 rag pickers and selected purposively by using a snowball sampling technique. Results: Majority of women rag pickers age group 21-30 years, 80 per cent are married, 74 per cent of illiterates, 50 per cent of scheduled caste, 87 per cent belong to the nucleus family, their family size is 5-7 members and 83 per cent staying at small huts. Nearly 68 per cent of women rag pickers income is below Rs.11,000/ per annum. Eighty per cent are in debt. Fifty-two per cent has drawn loan from moneylenders, the purpose of the debt on medical expenses, 90 per cent means of transportation for collecting garbages on foot. Majority of women rag pickers opinion that they do not continue this job for a long period, 85 per cent are facing health problems and 94 per cent also opinion that rag-picking is not an appreciated job. Most of the hazardous content was quite high in developing countries since the regulatory and enforcement system to control such waste disposal is usually not in operating.

Es lo de siempre. En las situaciones de crisis, lo más fácil, tanto para los poderes como para las mayorías sociales, es dirigir el foco acusador a los sectores más frágiles de la sociedad, que han de ver cómo a los abusos que sufren se le añade el de aparecer como responsables del mismo desorden social del que son al tiempo víctimas y producto. En una ciudad como Barcelona, maltratada por la masificación turística, por el encarecimiento de todo, por el ruido y la contaminación, por la inaccesibilidad de la vivienda…, parece ser que uno de nuestros grandes problemas es el de los vendedores ambulantes y su escandalosa manera de ganarse la vida. Evocando el primer largometraje de François Truffaut —Tirez sur le pianiste!—, bien podríamos decir que la consigna urgente en estos momentos es “¡Tirad sobre el mantero!”. El mantero es, en efecto, el blanco perfecto.

The mystery of capital offers a simple yet beguiling message: capitalism can be made to work for the poor, through formalising their property rights in houses, land and small businesses. This approach resonates strongly in the South African context, where private property works well for those who inhabit the so-called 'first economy'. Evidence from South Africa, however, suggests that many of de Soto's policy prescriptions may be inappropriate for the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, and have negative impacts on their security and well-being. More attention should be paid to supporting existing social practices that have widespread legitimacy. Features of 'extra-legal' property regimes provide a key to the solutions: their social embeddedness; the importance of land and housing as assets that help to secure livelihoods; the layered and relative nature of rights; and the flexible character of boundaries. The entire legal and social complex around which notions of 'formal' and 'informal' property are constituted needs to be interrogated more rigorously.

What happens to informal institutions and practices when political actors decide to implement democratic institutional reforms aimed at relieving formal institutions of informal constraints? Does informality disappear, or do the elites and affected populations continue to apply and abide by informal rules? What do we know about the relationship between institutional reforms and informal institutions? This book seeks to improve our understanding of how, when, and under which conditions democratic institutional reforms affect informal institutions and practices in countries transitioning to democracy, also known as hybrid regimes. With an empirical focus on three transitional post-Soviet regimes—Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine—this book aims to explain the contentious relationship between democratic institutional reforms and informality in the broader post-Soviet context. These findings have implications not only for hybrid regimes, but also for the majority of other post-Soviet, as well as other post-communist, countries. This book engages with a large and growing body of literature on informal institutions and practices and offers theoretical insights relevant to comparative politics, democratization and institutional development studies, political sociology, human geography and political economy.

are with the World Bank, Washington D.C.. ' After the financial crisis started, the Korean government offered two amnesty programs to undocumented foreign workers in 1997 and 1999. Some 55,000 undocumented foreign workers left the country under these programs. The Korean government offered wage subsidies to establishments that replaced their foreign workers with Korean nationals. However, only some con~panies applied for the subsidy. For example, until September 8, 1999, 16.6 %of the targeted replacements were accomplished. As a result, the government has doubled the wage subsidy amounts. '" This ratio even decreased to 7.9% during the first half of 2000.

This paper investigates changes in and patterns of income inequality in South Africa during the post-apartheid period 1994 to 2004. While findings show a rapidly growing high-income African population (a trend that began before 1994 and continued thereafter) as well as rising real wages for workers in formal employment, overall levels of income inequality have not been declining This is

Pension and social insurance programs that prevent a substantial loss in consumption resulting from old age, disability, or death are an integral part of any social protection system. The dual objectives of such programs are to allow for the prevention of a sharp decline in income when these life-cycle events take place and protection against poverty in old age. This background paper reviews the World Bank's conceptual framework for the analysis of pension programs and defines the major challenges facing low and middle income countries, namely, coverage, adequacy and sustainability. The paper proposes a broad, forward-looking strategy to help address these challenges.

Jam Chakro is a large International Donor-funded landfill site in Karachi, when opened in 1996 it was intended to be carefully managed by the Karachi municipal authorities. However, within weeks of opening it was overtaken by informalsector waste workers. They are mostly poor rural migrants who have gravitated towards urban areas seeking work. Their waste sorting and recycling work, which involves burning waste, is now responsible for serious environmental degradation and poor waste management.

As in many economies, wage gaps between formal and informal sectors have been persistent in Costa Rica. Using 12 years of microdata, we test whether increases in minimum wages raise actual wages; we find they not only raise wages in large urban and rural enterprises (traditionally referred to as formal), but they also raise wages of workers covered by minimum wage legislation in what are traditionally regarded as informal sectors where the legislation is often considered not to be enforced: small urban and small rural enterprises. Furthermore, minimum wages raise wages in these informal sectors more than in larger firms and hence work to reduce wage differentials between the larger and smaller firms. However, minimum wages have no significant impact on wages in the informal sector not covered by minimum wage legislation, the self-employed.

A growing proportion of workers globally work outside the regulated labour market, as self-employed, temporary employees and contractors. All these groups fall outside the ideal definitions of the working class. As such they are not included in the theories that are meant to give workers the powers to better their social position, i.e. Marxism that assumes a relationship between workers and owners. This paper analyzes unionizing strategies in the informal economy using theories of hidden resistance (Scott 1990) and performative opposition to normative marginalization (Butler 1990). The data is based on a two months fieldwork with CTCP - La Confederación de Trabajadores por Cuenta Propia in Nicaragua. CTCP is a union organizing informal workers throughout Nicaragua and is one of the fastest growing organizations in StreetNet , the international federation of trade unions in the informal economy. The fieldwork included extencive (participative) observation of meetings, demonstrations and 47 semi-structured interviews.

Desde acá -Tepito, barrio en la Ciudad de México Revista del CESLA, vol. 2, núm. 13, 2010, pp. 231-542, Uniwersytet Warszawski Polonia ¿Cómo citar? Fascículo completo Más información del artículo Página de la revista Revista del CESLA, ISSN (Versión impresa): 1641-4713 Fecha de recepción: abril del 2010 Fecha de aceptación y versión final: septiembre del 2010

While the Dutch textile industry declined rapidly, Turkish entrepreneurs created a growing industry for fashion goods with highly flexible demand in an informal sector that was initially tolerated by the authorities and attracted many undocumented immigrants. It led to the unusual spectacle of a labour market visibly in perfect competition; predictions of that model are clearly supported. Crackdown of the authorities led to the demise of the sector: production, capital, and labour all proved internationally mobile.

This paper critically engages with the role that the minibus taxi industry plays in the broader South African economy. Contemporary, the taxi industry remains the critical pillar of the public transport sector. The industry is considered as a servant for the urban and rural poor. However, there remains a great contestation around the formalisation of the taxi industry – particularly with regards to the taxi recapitalisation programme (TRP). The paper proposes rethinking the formalisation process – studying the industry in its totality as informed by underlying mechanisms that give rise to that which we see in the taxi industry.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of the entrepreneurship process in Africa byevaluating the link between starting up unregistered and future
firm performance. The widespread assumption has been that firms starting up unregistered in the informal economy suffer from poor performance compared to those starting up registered and in the formal economy. To test this poorer performance thesis, World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data is evaluated from across 41 African countries covering the period from 2006 to 2013. Controlling for a comprehensive set of other determinants of firm performance, the finding is that formal enterprises with five or more employees that started up unregistered have significantly higher annual sales, employment and productivity growth rates compared with those firms that registered their operations at startup. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of this finding.

This paper focusses on endogenous comparative advantages in developing countries, in particular on labour reallocation from low-productivity informal sectors into high-productivity formal sectors. This mechanism is important for two reasons. First, it contributes to the growth potential of developing countries and the absorption capacity for further capital accumulation. Second, labour reallocation will keep developing economies specialized in low-skilled intensive products in the coming decades and it will keep the wages of low-skilled workers low. We analyse this mechanism by simulating an increase in the skill intensity of developing countries the coming decades. These simulations are carried out with WorldScan, a dynamic AGE model of the world economy. An increasing skill intensity in LDCs will stimulate the global supply of high-skilled intensive products more than the supply of low-skilled intensive products, but to a much lesser extent than one would expect in static analyses or in absence of informal sectors.