The moderating role of informal economy on financial development induced ekc hypothesis in turkey

This study conducts an empirical investigation about the moderating role of the informal economy on Turkey's environmental performance by employing advanced econometric techniques that account numerous structural breaks in series. In this extent, we created three interaction variables by captivating the impact of informal economic activities on CO2 emissions through income, energy use, and financial sector development. Besides, we built a main effect model without the interaction variables to assess the direct effects of our variables on global environmental degradation. The outcomes of the carried analyses produced supporting evidence toward the confirmation of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) assumption. Obtained findings shown that energy use, financial development and the informal economy in Turkey transmit a deteriorating impact on environmental well-being. Furthermore, the moderating role of the informal economy was found to be statistically significant factor in terms of both economic and environmental efficiency.

HIV and TB Workplace Program for Street Vendors: A Situational Analysis

In South Africa, 15 percent of informal economy workers are street vendors. The organization of occupational health services in the country is fragmented and does not cover informal workers. Conditions of work make informal workers extremely vulnerable to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) exposure. In this study, a qualitative risk assessment was conducted among street vendors, followed by focus group discussions. Interpretation of data was according to major themes extracted from discussions. Workers are exposed to several occupational health hazards identified during the risk assessment. There is a lack of workplace HIV and TB services and overall poor access to healthcare. Street vendors, especially females, are at higher risk of HIV, due to gender inequalities. Comprehensive gender-sensitive training on occupational health and safety, HIV, and TB should be prioritized. To reach Universal Health Coverage and achieve the Sustainable Developmental Goals’ targets, the health system should improve services for informal economy workers.

Informal Economies

The expressions, “informal economy,” “informal sector,” and “informal employment” reflect statistical terms and definitions used to describe various aspects of informality. They are the result of several decades of work to develop a framework that adequately represents the multifaceted nature of informality as it applies not only to developing countries, but also to other transition and developed economies. The informal sector is generally viewed as the set of activities of small unregistered enterprises, while informal employment refers to employment within the formal or informal sector that lacks any form of protection, whether legal or social.1 The informal economy is a broader concept that encompasses all of these elements in their different forms, including their outputs and outcomes. The many different views about the drivers and composition of the informal economy in Africa have influenced various prescriptions and policy responses. On the one hand, some have viewed informality as being inimical to investment and growth, given that the activities undertaken usually fall outside of official regulation and control. The policy response has, therefore, often been to clamp down on or formalize the activities and relationships within the informal economy. On the other hand, informality is sometimes viewed as critical for growth and poverty reduction, given that the informal economy is inextricably linked to the formal economy while also serving as an important source of livelihood for millions of people. As a result of this, some effort has recently gone into providing a more supportive environment to enhance productivity within the informal economy and minimize its inherent vulnerabilities in the last decade. In the face of increasing globalization and access to new technologies that will drive the future of work, there is concern about the future of informal economic activities. Whether new technologies lead to a decline or upscaling of the informal economy in Africa will depend on several elements. Technology will not only shape how informality in Africa is viewed, but will influence the kind of activities undertaken, its links with the formal economy, and ultimately, the public policy response, which will itself be shaped by advances in technology.

The Experience of International Street Vendor Economy’s Policy and Enlightenment Through Desk Research

In recent years, the street vendor economy, an informal economic activity in which individual workers obtain income by selling legal goods in urban public space, has developed rapidly all over the world. This phenomenon is inseparable from the change of attitude and policy towards informal economy in various countries, certainly, the street-stall economy has its unique charm. This paper uses the SWOT analysis, one of the desktop research’s essential methods, to obtain the international experience and inspiration for the street vendor economy through the analysis of the China, Vietnam and South Africa. By analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat of the policy and law in the Vietnam and South Africa respectively, the enlightenment from these two countries the author had studied might help promote the perfection of the policy in China.