This paper analyses the determinants of the size of the informal economy using cross-country regressions. Two sets of global data using indirect estimation techniques and the perception of business leaders for 109 countries as well as a regional set for Latin America based on direct data are...

The considerable difficulties associated with cross-border environmental management are compounded when polluters are unlicensed micro-enterprises such as auto repair shops and traditional brick kilns; such "informal sector" firms are virtually impossible to regulate in the conventional manner....

In many developing countries the informal sector, comprised of low-technology unlicensed micro-enterprises, is a major source of pollution. Environmental management in this sector is exceptionally challenging. Though clean technologies offer a means of mitigating the problem, to our knowledge...

Informal sector participation has been described as a trap associated withimpoverishment (Cassim, 1982); as the survivalist responses of marginalised personswith no alternatives (Habib, 2005); yet it has also been described as potentiallydynamic (House, 1984). The former conceptions prescribe an...

Social and economic changes that happened in Brazil in the 1990s have changed theorganization of female employment in the country. In this study, I examine the participation ofwomen in the informal sector in Brazil in 1996 and 2005. Using micro-level data from theBrazilian Monthly Employment...

This paper compares patterns of hiring and separations in regulated and unregulated labor markets over the last two decades in Brazil, with an eye toward gauging the effects of employment protection on employment adjustment over the business cycle. Since the difference between the sectors is...

The classic dual economy models of developing countries hold minimum wages (among other institutions) accountable for persistent dualism. They note that applying or enforcing minimum wage laws in only one sector of the economy will create wage differentials which will not be eroded with labor...

Social and economic changes that happened in Brazil in the 1990s have changed the organization of female employment in the country. In this study, I examine the participation of women in the informal sector in Brazil in 1996 and 2005. Using micro-level data from the Brazilian Monthly Employment...