I develop a dynamic model of forward-looking entrepreneurs, who decide whether to operate in the formal economy or informal economy and choose how much to invest in their businesses, taking government policy as given. The government has access to two policy tools: taxes on formal business...

Human smuggling is a criminal enterprise where immigrants pay smugglers to help them cross borders and forge immigration documents. Over the past few decades, this enterprise has become dominated by large criminal organizations, who have displaced independent smugglers. I argue that changes in...

Shadow economy is harmful to the economy for various reasons. On the other hand shadow economy restriction has some repercussions. In other words, there is perhaps a sort of trade-off between the restriction of shadow economy and the resulting macroeconomic repercussions. Hence, in the present...

In the recent decades, in Haiti, a growing propensity to accept new technologies is observed. More than ever, the national market represents a potential advantage, as well as the cheapness of the labor force. Meanwhile, the country cannot take plenty advantage of its technological development...

I develop a dynamic model of forward-looking entrepreneurs, who decide whether to operate in the formal economy or informal economy and choose how much to invest in their businesses, taking government policy as given. The government has access to two policy tools: taxes on formal business...

This paper develops a model of costly firm creation in an economy with weak institutions, costly business environment as well as skill gaps where one of the equilibrium outcomes is a low-productivity trap. The paper tests the implications of the model using a cross-sectional dataset including...

This paper extends Evans and Jovanovic (1989)'s entrepreneurship model to incorporate the informal sector. Specifically, entrepreneurs can operate either in the formal sector - in which they have limited access to credit markets and must pay taxes - or in the informal sector - in which they can...

This paper develops a model of costly firm creation in an economy with weak institutions, costly business environment as well as skill gaps where one of the equilibrium outcomes is a low-productivity trap. The paper tests the implications of the model using a cross-sectional dataset including...

Business firms' formalization has been seen primarily as an entry barrier, which has often led to policies focused on simplifying formalities and creating minimalist company registries. This approach has been criticized on theoretical grounds for ignoring the tradeoff between ex ante...

Most economic interactions happen in a context of sequential exchange in which innocent third parties suffer information asymmetry with respect to previous ldquo;originativerdquo; contracts. The law reduces transaction costs by protecting these third parties but preserves some element of consent...