Artikel

The effectiveness of interventions to reduce informality in low- and middle-income countries

Labor markets in low- and middle-income countries are characterized by high levels of informality. A multitude of interventions have been implemented to increase the formalization of firms and workers, including information campaigns, simplified registration procedures, reductions of payroll taxes, and interventions enforcing formalization. We compile a database of 170 impact estimates from 38 academic studies that evaluate empirically one or more of these formalization interventions. The quantitative analysis correlates the impact estimates of the studies—given as a measure of sign and statistical significance, the effect size or percent impacts—with explanatory factors such as intervention type, outcome variable, scope of the intervention, and contextual factors such as study design and economic context. Several key findings emerge: first, tax incentives are a particularly effective intervention type, and information interventions constitute an important component to combine with other interventions. Second, the outcome “worker registration” shows significantly better results than other outcomes. Third, large-scale policies are more effective on average than singular programs. Fourth, interventions tend to be more effective in a more promising (labor) market context.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Journal: World Development ; ISSN: 0305-750X ; Volume: 138 ; Year: 2021 ; Amsterdam: Elsevier BV

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Thema
Formalization
Firm registration
Labor registration
Impact evaluation
Low- and middle-income countries

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Jessen, Jonas
Kluve, Jochen
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Elsevier BV
ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
(wo)
Amsterdam
(wann)
2021

DOI
doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105256
Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Artikel

Beteiligte

  • Jessen, Jonas
  • Kluve, Jochen
  • Elsevier BV
  • ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics

Entstanden

  • 2021

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