scholarly journals Measuring the informal economy in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Saunders ◽  
E Loots
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Currency Demand ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Currency Demand Approach ◽  
The Impact

Measuring the size of the South African informal economy has received inadequate attention, making it difficult for policy-makers to assess the impact of policy measures to stimulate informal economic activity. This article aims to estimate the size of the informal economy by using the Currency Demand Approach.  The empirical results reveal that the informal economy as a percentage of GDP decreased from 1967 to 1993, before levelling off.  The growth in the informal econmy has also underperformed in comparison to formal economic growth. There appears to be a causal relationship running from the informal to the formal economy. Macro-economic policies aimed at the formal economy will not necessarily 'trickle down' to the informal, while these polcies aimed at the informal economy may have a profound effect on the formal economy.

Money Multiplier Bias Due to Informal Sector: An Extension of the Existing Money Multiplier

2021 ◽  
pp. 227797872097988
Author(s):  
Khurrum S. Mughal ◽  
Friedrich G. Schneider ◽  
Faheem Aslam ◽  
Alishba Tahir
Keyword(s):  
Money Supply ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Official Statistics ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Money Multiplier ◽  
Multiplier Effect ◽  
The Impact

To demonstrate the impact of informal economy on the official money multiplier in currency supply, we present an extension of the basic money multiplier model. The influence of economic policies may differ if they are based only on official statistics without considering the informal sector. Since most of the activities in informal sector are hidden from authorities, it is widely assumed that these activities are based on cash transactions, a part of total currency that cannot be attracted towards deposits due to the holder’s fear of prosecution and taxation, etc. Therefore, it is expected that such currency holdings can give biased results by playing a role in the money multiplier, a phenomenon that is usually ignored while attempting to alter money supply. The article also indicates that because of informal sector, the currency deposit ratio in the money multiplier is smaller than expected (depending on size of the informal sector), leading to a larger multiplier effect. JEL Codes: E26, E51, O17

scholarly journals Disruption, destruction and the creation of ‘the inner cities’: the impact of urban renewal on industry, 1945–1980

Urban History ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALISTAIR KEFFORD
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Urban Renewal ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Industrial Activities ◽  
Inner Cities ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT:This article examines the impact of post-war urban renewal on industry and economic activity in Manchester and Leeds. It demonstrates that local redevelopment plans contained important economic underpinnings which have been largely overlooked in the literature, and particularly highlights expansive plans for industrial reorganization and relocation. The article also shows that, in practice, urban renewal had a destabilizing and destructive impact on established industrial activities and exacerbated the inner-city problems of unemployment and disinvestment which preoccupied policy-makers by the 1970s. The article argues that post-war planning practices need to be integrated into wider histories of deindustrialization in British cities.

scholarly journals TACKLING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR: AN OVERVIEW OF THE POLICY OPTIONS, APPROACHES AND MEASURES

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 1550006 ◽  
Author(s):  
COLIN C. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Viable Option ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Responsive Regulation ◽  
Informal Entrepreneurship ◽  
National Governments

The aim of this paper is to review the various policy options, approaches and measures that can be used to address informal entrepreneurship. To do this, it first reviews four possible policy options, namely taking no action, eradicating informal entrepreneurship, moving formal entrepreneurship into the informal economy, or transforming informal entrepreneurship into formal entrepreneurship. Revealing that transforming informal entrepreneurship into formal entrepreneurship is not only the most viable option but also the approach most commonly adopted by supra-national agencies and national governments, a review is then undertaken of how this can be achieved using either direct controls, which seek to increase the costs of informal entrepreneurship and/or the benefits of formal entrepreneurship, or indirect controls that seek to generate a commitment to compliance and greater self-regulation. It is then revealed how these approaches and their accompanying policy measures are not mutually exclusive and can be combined in various ways, exemplified by the responsive regulation and slippery slope approaches. The outcome is a comprehensive review and evaluation of the various policy options, approaches and measures available to policy makers for addressing informal entrepreneurship along with some recommendations regarding the way forward.

Exploration of the Effectiveness of Public Procurement for Innovation: Panel Analysis of EU Countries’ data

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Detelj ◽  
Timotej Jagric ◽  
Tanja Markovic-Hribernik
Keyword(s):  
Econometric Model ◽  
Innovation Policy ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Panel Analysis ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The Impact

This research focuses on the impact of public procurement for innovation (PPI) on a country's level of innovativeness. The available literature primarily consists of case studies that identify PPI’s impact on the innovativeness of particular firms. Therefore, this paper developed an econometric model to investigate the impact of PPI on the innovativeness of EU countries. The model tested the impact of four different innovation policy measures (PPI, R&D subsidies, regulations and cooperation). The results showed that in different model settings, PPI was positively and significantly related to countries’ innovativeness, whereas the other three measures showed low significance. These research findings may be important to policy makers when selecting appropriate measures for promoting innovation and thereby also enhancing their country’s competitiveness.

The roads of ‘excellence’ in Central and Eastern Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 547-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Antonowicz ◽  
Jan Kohoutek ◽  
Rómulo Pinheiro ◽  
Myroslava Hladchenko
Keyword(s):  
Eastern European ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Flagship Universities ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Strategic Funding

The aim of the article is to explore the impact of excellence as a powerful policy idea in the context of recent and contemporary developments in three selected Central and Eastern European countries, namely, the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine. More specifically, we explore how excellence as a ‘global script’ was translated by policy makers into local contexts with institutionalized practices. It shows that the translation of the idea of excellence involved the rise of a series of novel policy measures such as long-term strategic funding and the establishment of various pertinent schemes (e.g. flagship universities, centres of excellence). By doing so, the analysis – which is comparative by nature – focuses on exploring major differences and similarities in the conceptualization and implementation of the idea of excellence in the three local contexts of science.

Observations on the Structure of World Trade and Payments

1956 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-559
Author(s):  
Herbert B. Woolley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
American People ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
Systematic Understanding ◽  
The Impact

EVENTS intimately linked to our foreign relations have profoundly affected the level of economic activity in the United States and the character of our economic progress and stability. They cannot be disregarded by those concerned with the level of economic activity in this country. Furthermore, those concerned with the economic policies of the United States must also be concerned with the impact of those policies upon the rest of the world because of the great importance of the United States in the world economy, and because of the link between economic, political, and military events at home and abroad. Since the United States cannot ignore the far-reaching and indirect effect of its policies and decisions, the American people and their government require a detailed and systematic understanding of the economic interrelationships among all countries of the world. Even more, to exercise the international leadership which our great size and resources impose upon us, we must be in a position to assess the effect of developments and actions everywhere upon the political and economic strength of the free world. This article considers a few of the salient features of world economic relations which should always be kept in mind in assessing economic policy alternatives.

When informality meets formality: evidence from China

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun (Michelle) Yang ◽  
Michael J. Pisani
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Structural Inertia ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to explore “what impact does competition from informal enterprises have on formal firms” within the Chinese economic and business environment. Design/methodology/approach The paper opted for an exploratory study utilizing the cross-sectional survey data “2012 China Enterprise Survey” conducted by the World Bank. The survey is composed of approximately 200 business-related questions across the spectrum of business operations. In all, 2,700 privately owned Chinese firms are included in the logistic regression analysis. Findings Results show the impact of informal firm competition upon formal firms in China are influenced by geographical location, industry sector, ownership profile, governmental ownership, online presence and the extent of obeying labor regulations or the time spent in handling the governmental regulatory environment. There is a competitive and complementary simultaneous intertwined relationship between formal and informal economy. It occurs in a formal economy not fully divorced from the structural inertia of the planned economy as it transitions to a market-based economy. Practical implications This paper extended the assumption of institutional theory and presented it as a dynamic view of the evolution of organizations. It contributes by offering a simultaneous dual relationship between the formal and informal economy. It also adds one more potential feature of populations in the population ecology theory. Originality/value This exploratory paper empirically examines the impacts of informal sector enterprises on formal sectors firms in China and proposes a dual force effect of the informal economy to the formal economy given the current Chinese institutional environment. The study also provides a platform for further research on the interactions between the formal and informal sectors in emerging markets.

scholarly journals INTEREST RATE REGIME AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGERIAN CAPITAL MARKET

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edirin Jeroh ◽  
C. M. Ekwueme
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Ordinary Least Square ◽  
Policy Review ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The Impact

This study x-ray’s the interest rates regime in Nigeria as it affects the performance of the Nigerian Capital Market. In order to achieve this objective, relevant data for a period of 33 years spanning from 1981 – 2013 were obtained from the Factbook of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, CBN Statistical Bulletin as well as the annual accounts of quoted firms for the relevant years. The data obtained were analysed with the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique. The result from our analysis reveal among others that changes in interest rate regimes have majorly influenced the level of the performance of the Nigerian Capital Market. Based on the above, we recommend that capital market regulators and other regulatory agencies should keep an eye on movements in interest rates and the Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) (now MPR) and watch their trend. We also recommend that efforts must be put in place to establish a policy review and reassessment mechanism that would help in assessing the impact of selected policy measures on the economy so that policy makers would know the effectiveness and efficiency of designed policies and be guided in the policy review and development process in the country.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Central Bank Independence via Its Internal Characteristics

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroll H. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Central Bank Independence ◽  
Reserve Requirements ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Macroeconomic Environment

This study examines central bank independence in developing countries of Latin America and Asia as well as selected developed countries. Many countries around the world, both developed and developing, have accepted the idea of central bank independence over the last several decades, so central banks have autonomy. A majority of studies has examined primarily the impact of central bank independence on inflation as promoting the theoretical benefits of a more stable and prosperous macroeconomic environment. However, there is only now sufficient data to empirically determine whether these claims are true. This research attempts to answer why developing economies with an informal sector resort to inflationary measures to finance their activities; how does a government induce an agent to choose the formal economy. In the trade-off between inflation and reserve requirements, the optimal policy is maximum inflation and minimum reserve requirements as increasing the steady-state utility of an optimizing agent. Also agents prefer the informal economy if policy relies on a maximum reserve requirement.  

scholarly journals A “Young Farmer Problem”? Opportunities and Constraints for Generational Renewal in Farm Management: An Example from Southern Europe

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Eistrup ◽  
Ana Rita Sanches ◽  
José Muñoz-Rojas ◽  
Teresa Pinto Correia
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
High Investment ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Complex Question

The existence of a “young farmer problem” in Europe has been recognized by scientists and policy-makers and is based on the widespread acknowledgement of the poor generational renewal rates in the farming sector and in particular in farmland management across the European Union. Despite existing support policy measures, young farmers (YF) face barriers which hamper the establishment and consolidation of their farming enterprises. Focusing on Alentejo (NUTS II), in Portugal, this paper identifies the difficulties YF face to accessing land, the high investment costs required to set up a farming unit, and the insufficient access to credit as the main reasons why young people are prevented from setting up their farming enterprises. Existing policy support measures targeting YF are widely perceived as inefficient with regard to triggering generational renewal. Hence, our findings suggest that not only is it necessary to pay greater attention to the complex question of land tenure, but that also the impact of policies implemented in the past should be examined in detail in order to develop and implement more effective measures that are sensitive to the different national and regional contexts.

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