Economic growth and unemployment exhibit an ambiguous relationship – according to empirical studies. This ambiguity can be investigated by observing the role of the underground economy in shaping the productivity of firms. Indeed, unemployment may be absorbed by underground firms, which adopt...

The purpose of this paper is to extend the Fields’ (1989) multi sector job-search model in a three sector general equilibrium framework by introducing international trade and an input, capital. The three sectors are the rural sector, the urban informal sector and the urban formal sector. The...

A matching model will explain both unemployment and economic growth by considering the underground sector. Three problems can thus be simultaneously accounted for: (i) the persistence of underground economy, (ii) the ambiguous relationships between underground employment and unemployment, and...

The present paper develops a three sector Harris-Todaro (1970) type general equilibrium model of unemployment by incorporating endogenous skill formation. Two types of labour are considered: skilled labour and un-skilled labour. We examine the effects of the inflows of foreign capital on the...