scholarly journals Developments in the Informal and Formal Sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-22
Author(s):  
Simone Mingas ◽  
Nguenha Bastos
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Informal Institutions ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Wage Level ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Two Sectors

The aims of the study to understand developments in the Informal and Formal Sector. This study discusses about the development of the informal and formal sectors a theoretical review of the informal and formal sectors, the concept of the informal sector the development of the informal and formal sectors. The informal and formal sectors have been running with their respective growth. The informal sector is a buffer against the transformation of unbalanced labor structures. Included as external factors are: First, that the institutions that support modern formal economic activities. Second, the wage level gap. Discrimination in the level of wages, both by informal institutions, the bureaucracy and the environment of formal economic actors themselves also perpetuates the separation of the two sectors. Third, related to technical-political issues, where political actors do not pay attention to and understand the rapid development of modernization.

Class Differentiation and the Informal Sector in Amman, Jordan

1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Miles Doan
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Single Class ◽  
The World ◽  
Formal And Informal Sectors

Studies of economic activities among the urban poor in various parts of the world have found more variation in the so-called informal sector than they had expected. The urban poor had typically been thought of as a kind of “reserve army” for the formal sector, an underclass at the margins of survival. Even early work that recognized the links between the formal and informal sectors lumped them together as a single class that ranked below all the others. The tendency to regard workers in the informal sector as members of an underclass masked the tremendous variations among them and between informal sectors in different places.

scholarly journals Problems of Working Women in the Rural Informal Sector of Punjab (Pakistan)

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-99
Author(s):  
Karamat Ali ◽  
Abdul Hamid Abdul Hamid
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Working Women ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
The One

The informal sector plays a significant role in Pakistan’s economy as well as in other developing countries. The role of the informal sector in solving the unemployment problem of Third World countries has become the focus of a conceptual and empirical debate in recent years. Most of the research takes a favourable view of this sector and suggests that it should be used as a policy instrument for the solution of the most pressing problems of developing countries, such as unemployment, poverty, income inequalities, etc. Before proceeding further, we will define the informal sector and differentiate it from the formal sector. There are various definitions, but the one given in an ILO report (1972) is generally considered the best. According to this report, informal sector activities are ways of doing things characterised by a heterogeneous array of economic activities with relative ease of entry, reliance on indigenous resources; temporary or variable structure and family ownership of enterprises, small scale of operation, labour intensive and adapted technology, skills acquired outside the formal school system, not depending on formal financial institutions for its credit needs; unregulated and unregistered units, and not observing fixed hours/days of operation.

scholarly journals Agglomeration effects and informal firms in the internal structure of cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (80) ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Andres Dominguez
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Earthquake Risk ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to estimate the effect of agglomeration on the probability of being an informal firm in Cali, Colombia. Informal firms produce legal goods but do not comply with official regulations. This issue is relevant because, similar to other developing countries, the informal sector in Colombia employs more than 50 per cent of the workforce. The results of this study demonstrate that one standard deviation increase in agglomeration reduces by 52 per cent the probability of being informal. Results are consistent with the idea that informal firms benefit less from agglomeration because of legal restrictions that block the relationship with formal firms. Design/methodology/approach The objective of the present paper is to estimate the effect of agglomeration on the probability that a firm – given a location – chooses to be informal. The authors deal with endogeneity issues by using soil information related to earthquake risk, which reduces the height of buildings and therefore increases the cost of agglomeration. The analysis focuses on Cali, Colombia, where the informal sector employs 60 per cent of the workforce. The registration of economic activities is used as a criterion to identify informal firms, in such a way that the percentage of informal firms is 42 per cent. Findings The authors find that the effect of agglomeration is strongly negative. The probability of being informal diminishes by 52 per cent when agglomeration increases by one standard deviation. Results in this paper shed light on how formal firms tend to be localized in high-density commercial and industrial areas, while informal firms are localized in low-density and peripheral areas where the land for production is cheaper and where they can avoid the control of authorities. Originality/value Theory argues that spatial production externalities and commuting costs are among the main forces that shape the city’s internal structure. Externalities include effects that increase firms’ production, and therefore workers’ income, when the size of the local economy grows. The authors now have strong evidence that firms’ productivity is positively related with the volume of nearby employment. Most of the empirical findings concern firms in the formal sector and, accordingly, the literature says little about the effect of agglomeration on informal firms’ location. However, this effect is crucial for developing countries where informal work is the main option for less-educated workers facing unemployment.

scholarly journals Constraints to growth in informal sector activities and formalisation: A case study of Ghanaian slums

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darma Mahadea ◽  
Luther-King Junior Zogli
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Credit Access ◽  
Pca Method

Background: Globally, people often migrate from rural to urban areas in search of employment. Lack of adequate employment opportunities in cities forced individuals to engage in slum informal economic activities out of necessity.Aim: The informal sector presently employed about 86% of labour in Ghana, contributing 42% to its gross domestic product (GDP). Various constraints held back the development of slum informal activities. Formalising the informal sector is advocated as a step to generate employment. This article investigated the dynamics of informal sector activities and formalisation among slum operators in Ghana, based on a survey in two major cities there.Setting: This article investigated the constraints that hinder the development of slum activities in Accra and Kumasi, two cities in Ghana, and examined the informal operators’ subjective well-being and their willingness to graduate to the formal sector, should the constraints be addressed.Methods: Data were collected by means of a questionnaire, administered to a random sample of 342 informal slum operators. Enterprise constraints are examined by using the principal component analysis (PCA) method and the likelihood of the informal operators’ graduating to the formal sector by using logistic regression.Results: The PCA identified six clusters as limitations, explaining about 77% of the variation in constraints. These related to a lack of business knowledge, credit access, tools and materials, security and social networking. The logistic regression results reflect that, of all the constraints, it is only when access to capital is addressed, that slum operators will move into formal activities.Conclusion: When people are happy in what they are doing, they are reluctant to move to the formal sector, despite incentives or interventions that address their enterprise constraints. Hence, slum operators and informal activities are unlikely to disappear. Nevertheless, policy-makers have to devise appropriate financing strategies for slum operators to help in their formalisation and growth pathways.

Growth Constraints of Formal and Informal Micro and Small -Scale Enterprises and Their Impact on Policy Formulation in Zimbabwe

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3(J)) ◽  
pp. 234-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Mukorera
Keyword(s):  
National Economy ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Growth Constraints ◽  
Two Sectors

The new view on MSEs in the informal sector perceives them as being permanent, stable activities comprised of dynamic businesses that affect most economic activities. As such, they need to be considered in economic policies to ensure that they can grow and contribute to the national economy. In Zimbabwe, policies for entrepreneurial development are mainly informed by formal - sector enterprises. This study analysed the similarities and differences in the growth constraints of MSEs operating in the formal and informal sectors in Harare, Zimbabwe . Using descriptive statistics and principal component analysis, the study analysed 21 internal and external growth constraints. The findings were that formal - sector MSEs perceive internal factors as constraining them the most, while informal MSEs perceive external factors as constraining them the most. The study concludes that a common policy approach cannot work in addressing the needs of the two sectors. Sector- specific policies need to be formulated in order for the enterprises in both sectors to fully contribute to the national economy.

scholarly journals Informal Sector and the Economy in Sri Lanka: A Survey of Literature

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Senanayake S. M. P. ◽  
Wimalaratana W. ◽  
Premaratne S. P.
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Vertical Linkages ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities

It is customary to include all economic activities that are not officially regulated as informal sector activities. The usual definitions used to distinguish the informal sector from the formal one appear to be problematic or fussy at their edges. This dichotomy is not mutually exclusive as often thought but is in fact interdependent in many respects. It is also argued that informal enterprises often move upwards in a hierarchy of organizational forms and finally end up as formal sector units through vertical linkages. The informal sector provides jobs for very vulnerable low-income groups in rural and urban sectors while contributing to the GDP immensely in developing countries. This paper critically examines the nature of the informal sector in Sri Lanka and studies the links between the informal sector and its economy. The analysis entirely employs secondary data and information. The findings of the study demonstrate that the domestic (traditional) agriculture and related activities in Sri Lanka are dominated by the informal sector, which in turn is further strengthened by underworld activities. The fear of tax burden, bribes, bureaucratic bungling, archaic rules and regulations, and lack of dividends in formal activities drive many people from the formal sector to the informal one. The informal sector provides jobs and reduces unemployment and underemployment, but in many cases the jobs are low paying and job security is poor. It bolsters entrepreneurial activities, but at the detriment of state regulations’ compliance, particularly regarding tax and labor regulations.

scholarly journals The Analysis of Zimbabwe`s informal Sector`s Economic Sustainability Subject to Lockdown Effects

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Tafadzwa Telmore Tarupiwa
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Economic Sustainability ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Balanced Development ◽  
Artisanal Miners

Zimbabwe`s economic society had been dominated by the informal sector as the main source and substitute for formal employment. It comprises of vendors, crosses border traders, cottage industries, artisanal miners and many others conducting lawful but unregistered economic activities. Given it being seen as a new normal for Zimbabwe`s economic structure, the 2020 national lockdown necessitated the analysis on the economic sustainability of Zimbabwe`s informal sector given the hardship experienced. Applying extensive literature review, content analysis and critical assessment of theory and practice as the methodology, the informal sector is deemed highly unsustainable economically. This paper proposes a total restructuring of Zimbabwe`s sector structure, through the creation of a total development strategy that enables refocusing government expenditure and policy towards realignment of informal structure to formal. Furthermore, this paper advocate for a balanced development strategy, that incorporates all sectors which accelerate growth and a stable formal sector through technological innovations and modernisation such that there is technology transfer to the informal sector, as opposed to arbitraging and vending activities as they are prone to stagnation and vulnerability.

Economic Reforms in Jamaica

1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 97-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Danielson
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Budget Deficit ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
The Political ◽  
Rural Poor ◽  
Slow Response ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
The Past

AbstractThis paper briefly discusses the economic reforms that have taken place in Jamaica for the past 15 years and argues that the reforms, at least so far, are mixed, particularly with regard to the elimination of poverty. The basic problems are (1) a slow response of exports to large, frequent adjustments in the exchange rate, which prohibits low-wage labor, in the informal sector, from being absorbed into the formal sector; and (2) the large budget deficit, with the associated demands for large cuts in expenditures, which primarily affects the rural poor. It is suggested that the principal reason that reforms have been slow is because of the political price to be paid for unpopular measures in a competitive democracy

scholarly journals Judicial Institutionalization and Judicial Activism of the Post-Communist Constitutional Courts

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirill M. Bumin
Keyword(s):  
Executive Power ◽  
Contextual Influences ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Decision Making Behavior

In applying constitutional review, post-communist constitutional courts are affected by the existing political and institutional environments, as well as by their own institutional capabilities. However, our understanding of the activity of the post-communist constitutional courts remains incomplete because the existing research fails to consider how the institutional changes on these courts affect their decision-making behavior. In this study, I examine the activity of nineteen post-communist constitutional courts during the 1992-2006 period. I use an aggregate, time-series measure of judicial institutionalization to show that higher levels of institutionalization enhance these constitutional courts’ ability to pursue their policy goals and influence the degree to which they invalidate policy choices of other major political actors, while lower levels of institutionalization limit the courts’ impact on legal and political issues. The findings of this analysis thus provide the first empirical confirmation of the importance of judicial institutionalization to the policy outputs of the post-communist constitutional courts. I also illustrate how various institutional and contextual influences, such as executive power, legislative fragmentation, economic conditions, EU accession process, the identity of the litigants, and the nature of the litigated issues, influence the activity of post-communist constitutional courts. 

scholarly journals Co-exploring the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihood of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adity Shayontony Das ◽  
Fatema Akter Bonny ◽  
Arifa Bente Mohosin ◽  
Sabina Faiz Rashid ◽  
Md Tanvir Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
World Health ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Household Level ◽  
The Government ◽  
Health Organization

Background: According to World Health Organization (WHO), vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities are facing severe impacts of the pandemic. There has always been significant challenges and hurdles in terms of achieving adequate and equitable inclusivity of persons with disabilities in all sections of social life. Education and employment of persons with disabilities were least focused which created more marginalization for the community. The long term impact of these marginalization has also led to the lack of jobs and social security of persons with disabilities, which is very clear now given the crisis in place. In low and middle income countries like Bangladesh the situation is even worse. To better understand the conditions of persons with disabilities in this crisis situation, the present study was initiated to explore the dimensions of livelihood with respect to income and wellbeing of persons with disabilities and to generate evidence for developing policies around these issues.Methods: A qualitative study was undertaken among 30 persons with disabilities from 8 different geographical divisions of Bangladesh. The interviews were conducted through telephone calls due to the existing COVID-19 crisis and mobility restrictions. The respondents were purposively selected based on gender, type of disability, area of resident (urban, rural) and their ability to communicate, therefore most (25/30) respondents were persons with physical disability. Thematic analysis was conducted to generate the findings of the study.Findings: Study findings revealed that majority of the respondents were involved in informal jobs. Predominantly males were daily wage-earners and often the sole breadwinner of the families, very few females were involved in economic activities. Since they had no stable income, the economic shock from the COVID-19 pandemic had affected them badly even leading to household level famine. The study identifies low level of education and informal job security as the primary causes of socio-economic insecurity among persons with disabilities, resulting in challenges in ensuring a stable livelihood during crisis situations, such as COVID-19.Conclusion: Constant alienation of persons of disabilities from the formal sector results in the deterioration of their livelihood standards which even worsen during any emergency crisis such as COVID-19. The study pinpoints that only aided services are not adequate to ensure persons with disabilities' rights rather there is an urgent need of disability inclusion in formal job sector and livelihood training for persons with disabilities. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and to irradiate the inequality towards persons with disabilities in the society it is important for the Government and concern bodies to focus on the inclusiveness with better implementation and monitoring strategies.

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