Vast literature is available covering main Informal Economy (IE) causes and consequences for Latin America and Caribbean (LAC), but its size estimation has been mainly limited to worldwide models applied to the region. This paper proposes a MIMIC Base Model using a data set composed by 41...

North (1990) defines institutions as "the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction." Although there are various definitions of institutions and institutional quality, North’s pioneering analysis helps to explain how the...

While the formalization program is a popular policy instrument in many countries, the effects on the performance of informal household enterprises in emerging economies are unclear. This study's analysis begins by establishing the context for the rational exit theory. This study experimentally...

This paper examines how economic sanctions affect the allocation of workers across formal and informal employment. We analyse the case of the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, we compare the probability of being employed in the...

In this paper, the size of the informal economy of Pakistan is determined by including the legal and political-institutional variables as determinants. By using the MIMIC model average estimate for the informal economy of Pakistan is 37.75 percent from 1995 to 2017. The study tries to explore...

We study labor earnings dynamics in a developing economy with a large informal sector. We use nationally representative Brazilian panel data that cover both formal and informal workers. We document large disparities in earnings fluctuations faced by these segments of the labor market, as well as...

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the variable impacts of the informal economy on businesses and employment relations in South East Europe. Evidence is reported from the 2009 World Bank Enterprise Survey which interviewed 4,720 businesses located in South East Europe. The finding is not only...

In this study, we investigate the relationship between the size of the informal economy and the level of environmental pollution/energy use. To this end, we first use different indicators of environmental pollution along with a measure of energy use intensity in a panel dataset consisting of 152...

The typical size distribution of manufacturing plants in developing countries has a thick left tail compared to developed countries. The same holds across Indian states, with richer states having a much smaller share of their manufacturing employment in small plants. In this paper, I explore the...

In many economies, there is substantial economic activity in the informal sector, beyond the reach of government policy. Labor market policies, which by definition apply only to the formal sector, can have important spillover effects on the informal sector. The relative sizes of the informal and...