Blog

by Tony Addison June 2012

Tony Addison I started writing this ‘From the Editor’s Desk’ in Accra, to the sound of an African drum band, preparing for a ceremony to mark the...

• Informal sector
• Environment and economic development
• Economic development

Blog

by Roger Williamson September 2013

24 September 2013 Roger Williamson Another big weekend for UNU-WIDER. The stage was well set on Thursday 19 September for a consideration of...

• Economic policy
• Equality and inequality
• Structural adjustment (Economic policy)

Journal Article

This article uses panel data from a survey of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam to uncover which firms pay bribes and which do not. We also study how bribe paying evolved between 2005 and 2007 and test how the determinants of bribes...

• Informal sector
• Econometrics
• Entrepreneurship

Working Paper

This paper is the first to address the challenges of measuring the labour income share of developing countries. The poor availability and reliability of national accounts data, and the fact that self-employed people, whose labour income is hard to...

• Income distribution
• Informal sector
• Labour costs

Blog

Tommaso Ciarli, Saeed Parto and Maria Savona Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world with an estimated per capita income of 300...

• Conflict management
• Economic development
• Entrepreneurship

Working Paper

Based on a unique panel dataset consisting of both formal and informal firms surveyed every other year from 2005 to 2013, this paper explores the benefits of formalization to the government and firm employees in Vietnam. We find that formalization...

• Factor proportions
• Informal sector
• Taxation

Working Paper

This paper investigates if changes in the minimum wage have influenced changes on the formality and informality rates, and the level of wages in Ecuador. A 12-year panel was built. It allows to overcome the short time span of household data and so to...

• Informal sector
• Labour market
• Labour supply

Research Brief

What types of businesses benefit or suffer due to geographic clustering? Data available from Cambodia on competition and spillovers—at both village- and commune-level—is useful to answer a number of questions about the effects of clustering and the...

• Economic development
• Industrial productivity
• Informal sector

Journal Special Issue

Entrepreneurs are often adversely affected by violent conflict such as civil war. At the same time though entrepreneurs may contribute to or even benefit from violent conflict and other ‘destructive’ and ‘unproductive’ activities that limit economic...

• Conflict management
• Economic development
• Entrepreneurship

Journal Article

This paper analyses the consequences of formalisation on the performance of informal firms, using a panel dataset from Vietnam. We find that switching firms (before switching) have higher profit and value added compared to non-switching firms...

• Factor proportions
• Informal sector
• Wages

Journal Article

Based on unique panel data consisting of both formal and informal firms, this paper uses a matched double difference approach to examine the relationship between legal status and firm level outcomes in micro, small and medium manufacturing...

• Business enterprises
• Entrepreneurship
• Informal sector

Working Paper

The informal sector makes up an overwhelming share of both gross domestic product and total employment in Africa. In this paper, we lay out some of the basic characteristics of the informal sector in sub-Saharan Africa, relevant institutions, and...

• Economic development
• Households
• Informal sector

Working Paper

• Families
• Households
• Informal sector

Policy Brief

• Growth
• Employment
• Infrastructure (Economics)

Working Paper

• Structural adjustment (Economic policy)
• Informal sector
• Labour

Working Paper

• Capital market
• Commercial law
• Foreign exchange