Informality Traps
-
Yusufcan Masatlioglu
und Jamele Rigolini
Abstract
Despite large deregulation efforts, informal economic activity still represents a large share of GDP in many developing countries. In this paper we look at incentives to reduce informal activity when capitalists in the formal sector regulate entry. We consider a dual economy with a formal sector employing educated workers and an informal sector with unskilled workers. We show that high costs of education make labor migration and profits in the formal sector an increasing function of its size. Therefore, incentives to allow capital to be reallocated to the formal sector increase with the size of the formal economy, and unless the formal sector has reached a "critical mass" countries remain in a highly informal equilibrium. We conclude by reviewing policies that can push countries with large informal economies towards formalization.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontiers Article
- The Causal Effect of Studying on Academic Performance
- The Market: Catalyst for Rationality and Filter of Irrationality
- Advances Article
- Incompatibility, Product Attributes and Consumer Welfare: Evidence from ATMs
- Risk Attitude in Real Decision Problems
- The Effect of FDI on Job Security
- On the Optimal Allocation of Students and Resources in a System of Higher Education
- Giving It Away for Free? The Nature of Job-Market Signaling by Open-Source Software Developers
- Coping with Disaster: The Impact of Hurricanes on International Financial Flows, 1970-2002
- Lucky Last? Intra-Sibling Allocation of Child Labor
- Technological Proximity and Exclusive Buyer-Supplier Relationships
- The Internet and the Market for Daily Newspapers
- Optimal Policy with Heterogeneous Preferences
- A Representation Index: Measuring the Representation of Minorities in the Income Distribution
- Starting School at Four: The Effect of Universal Pre-Kindergarten on Children's Academic Achievement
- Contributions Article
- The Economics of Workaholism: We Should Not Have Worked on This Paper
- Millers, Commission Agents and Collusion in Grain Markets: Evidence from Basmati Auctions in North India
- Resources for Sale: Corruption, Democracy and the Natural Resource Curse
- Partners in Crime: Collusive Corruption and Search
- An Empirical Study of Happiness in Italy
- Fairness in Extended Dictator Game Experiments
- Income Insecurity and Youth Emancipation: A Theoretical Approach
- Pay Peanuts and Get Monkeys? Evidence from Academia
- Entry and Exit in the Nonprofit Sector
- Discrimination as a Competitive Device: The Case of Local Television News
- Predicting Resource Policy Outcomes via Meta-Regression: Data Space, Model Space, and the Quest for 'Optimal Scope'
- Functional Distribution, Land Ownership and Industrial Takeoff: The Role of Effective Demand
- Growth and Inequality in Closed and Open Economies: The Role of the Product Cycle
- Before and After: Gender Transitions, Human Capital, and Workplace Experiences
- Love on the Rocks: Domestic Violence and Alcohol Abuse in Rural Mexico
- Entrepreneurial First Movers, Brand-Name Fast Seconds, and the Evolution of Market Structure
- Crossing the Line: Direct Estimation of Cross-Border Cigarette Sales and the Effect on Tax Revenue
- Corruption and Openness
- Informality Traps
- Topics Article
- Conflict and Production: An Application to Natural Resources
- Strategic Behavior and Social Norms in Tipped Service Industries
- Trade Liberalization and New Exporters' Size: A Test of Heterogeneous Firm Models
- An Evolutionary Race to the Top: Trade, Oligopoly and Convex Pollution Damage
- Determinants of Business Tax Compliance
- Entry into a Network Industry: Consumers' Expectations and Firms' Pricing Policies
- Effects of Electoral Rules, Political Competition and Corruption on the Size and Composition of Government Consumption Spending: An Italian Regional Analysis
- Too Few Cooks Spoil the Broth: Division of Labor and Directed Production
- The Employment Effects of Mergers in a Declining Industry: The Case of South African Gold Mining
- Environmental Policy and Uncertain Arrival of Future Abatement Technology
- Political Altruism of Transboundary Water Sharing
- Equilibrium State Aid in Integrating Markets
- Optimal Fiscal Policy When Migration Is Feasible
- Dynamic Scoring in the Ramsey Growth Model
- Lobbying and Contract Delegation in Public Procurement
- Measuring Hypothetical Bias in Choice Experiments: The Importance of Cognitive Consistency
- The Effect of Trade Facilitation on Sectoral Trade
- After-School Supervision and Children's Cognitive Achievement
- Does Crime Affect Economic Decisions? An Empirical Investigation of Savings in a High-Crime Environment
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontiers Article
- The Causal Effect of Studying on Academic Performance
- The Market: Catalyst for Rationality and Filter of Irrationality
- Advances Article
- Incompatibility, Product Attributes and Consumer Welfare: Evidence from ATMs
- Risk Attitude in Real Decision Problems
- The Effect of FDI on Job Security
- On the Optimal Allocation of Students and Resources in a System of Higher Education
- Giving It Away for Free? The Nature of Job-Market Signaling by Open-Source Software Developers
- Coping with Disaster: The Impact of Hurricanes on International Financial Flows, 1970-2002
- Lucky Last? Intra-Sibling Allocation of Child Labor
- Technological Proximity and Exclusive Buyer-Supplier Relationships
- The Internet and the Market for Daily Newspapers
- Optimal Policy with Heterogeneous Preferences
- A Representation Index: Measuring the Representation of Minorities in the Income Distribution
- Starting School at Four: The Effect of Universal Pre-Kindergarten on Children's Academic Achievement
- Contributions Article
- The Economics of Workaholism: We Should Not Have Worked on This Paper
- Millers, Commission Agents and Collusion in Grain Markets: Evidence from Basmati Auctions in North India
- Resources for Sale: Corruption, Democracy and the Natural Resource Curse
- Partners in Crime: Collusive Corruption and Search
- An Empirical Study of Happiness in Italy
- Fairness in Extended Dictator Game Experiments
- Income Insecurity and Youth Emancipation: A Theoretical Approach
- Pay Peanuts and Get Monkeys? Evidence from Academia
- Entry and Exit in the Nonprofit Sector
- Discrimination as a Competitive Device: The Case of Local Television News
- Predicting Resource Policy Outcomes via Meta-Regression: Data Space, Model Space, and the Quest for 'Optimal Scope'
- Functional Distribution, Land Ownership and Industrial Takeoff: The Role of Effective Demand
- Growth and Inequality in Closed and Open Economies: The Role of the Product Cycle
- Before and After: Gender Transitions, Human Capital, and Workplace Experiences
- Love on the Rocks: Domestic Violence and Alcohol Abuse in Rural Mexico
- Entrepreneurial First Movers, Brand-Name Fast Seconds, and the Evolution of Market Structure
- Crossing the Line: Direct Estimation of Cross-Border Cigarette Sales and the Effect on Tax Revenue
- Corruption and Openness
- Informality Traps
- Topics Article
- Conflict and Production: An Application to Natural Resources
- Strategic Behavior and Social Norms in Tipped Service Industries
- Trade Liberalization and New Exporters' Size: A Test of Heterogeneous Firm Models
- An Evolutionary Race to the Top: Trade, Oligopoly and Convex Pollution Damage
- Determinants of Business Tax Compliance
- Entry into a Network Industry: Consumers' Expectations and Firms' Pricing Policies
- Effects of Electoral Rules, Political Competition and Corruption on the Size and Composition of Government Consumption Spending: An Italian Regional Analysis
- Too Few Cooks Spoil the Broth: Division of Labor and Directed Production
- The Employment Effects of Mergers in a Declining Industry: The Case of South African Gold Mining
- Environmental Policy and Uncertain Arrival of Future Abatement Technology
- Political Altruism of Transboundary Water Sharing
- Equilibrium State Aid in Integrating Markets
- Optimal Fiscal Policy When Migration Is Feasible
- Dynamic Scoring in the Ramsey Growth Model
- Lobbying and Contract Delegation in Public Procurement
- Measuring Hypothetical Bias in Choice Experiments: The Importance of Cognitive Consistency
- The Effect of Trade Facilitation on Sectoral Trade
- After-School Supervision and Children's Cognitive Achievement
- Does Crime Affect Economic Decisions? An Empirical Investigation of Savings in a High-Crime Environment