Many countries have a large informal economy that is poorly measured in the national accounts. I develop a two-sector small open economy business cycle model where one sector is formal and the other is informal, and explore the effect that the informal sector has on measured business cycles. I...

The rapid growth of substitutes for cash, particularly debit and credit cards, has led economists to predict the advent of the “cashless society”. Yet cash holdings in most developed economies continue to grow and in the U.S., per capita currency holdings now amount to $3000. This paper...

La matriz de contabilidad social presentada en este documento tiene como principalesaportes 1) lograr una clasificación de las actividades considerando que estas puedenformales o informales, 2) diferenciar el consumo intermedio para las actividades formalese informales, 3) clasificar al valor...

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de la Matriz de Contabilidad Social para el año2007, en la cual se involucra tanto actividades formales como informales. Para esto se tomacomo base las cuentas nacionales para el año 2007, con base 2000, y un conjunto deencuestas de hogares para los...

The paper present the features of the underground economy in Romania and the factors’ contribution to its formation: undeclared labour of the formal sector (enterprises), value added tax evasion, and the under-reported incomes of the small entrepreneurs’ sector (family associations and...

This paper develops a demographic model of the currency population by examining the birth and death rates of specific denominations of currency. This framework permits empirical estimation of the average lifetime of notes in circulation and hence the currency velocity (turnovers per year) of...

Abstract This paper compiles alternative estimates of underground economies in twenty five transition countries during the transition decade and finds a disturbing lack of convergence between them, calling into question the reliability of GDP figures (which in varying degrees now include...

The study provides a comparison of the size and value of unpaid family care work in two European member States, Italy and Poland. A micro-data analysis is conducted using the Italian and Polish time use surveys. Both the opportunity cost and the market replacement approaches are employed to...

This paper discusses the estimation of a social accounting matrix that distinguishes between formal and informal activities for China and India for 2000 and 1998-99 respectively. Wage shares for the formal/informal employment for China and net domestic product shares for the formal/informal...

Firm heterogeneity and the allocation of resources across firms play a key role in determining aggregate productivity. Entry barriers and misallocation can substantially impact productivity, as evidenced in recent work. This article provides a unifying theoretical framework and a review of this...