Rethinking the informal economy: linkages with the formal economy and the formal regulatory environment

Arbeitspapier

This paper explores the relationship of the informal economy to the formal economy and to the formal regulatory environment. It begins with a comparison of the earlier concept of the ‘informal sector’ with the new expanded concept of the ‘informal economy’ which includes microentrepreneurs, own account operators, informal wage workers, and industrial outworkers. The central arguments of the paper are that (a) most informal enterprises and workers are intrinsically linked to formal firms; (b) different segments of the informal economy are overregulated, de-regulated, or under-regulated; and (c) there are benefits and costs to both formality and informality. The paper concludes that the appropriate role for government is (i) to ensure that the formal regulatory environment is not biased in favour of formal firms and workers over informal enterprises and workers (or vice versa) and (ii) to regulate the commercial and employment relationships between formal firms, informal enterprises, and informal wage workers.

Angaben zum Objekt

• ISBN: 9291906891
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: WIDER Research Paper ; No. 2005/10

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights ; Informal Economy; Underground Economy
• Thema: informal sector ; legality ; gender ; regulation ; policy ; Informeller Sektor ; Regulierung

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Alter Chen, Martha
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (wo): Helsinki
• (wann): 2005

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/63329
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:43 MEZ