The economics of the informal sector : a simple model and some empirical evidence from Latin America

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The economics of the informal sector : a simple model and some empirical evidence from Latin America, Volume 1

Author:	Loayza, Norman A.;	Collection Title:	Policy, Research working paper ; no. WPS 1727
Country:	Latin America;	Date Stored:	2001/04/21
Document Date:	1997/02/28	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Major Sector:	(Historic)Private Sector Development
Region:	Latin America & Caribbean	Report Number:	WPS1727
Sub Sectors:	Business Environment	SubTopics:	Environmental Economics & Policies; Economic Theory & Research; Banks & Banking Reform; Poverty Assessment; National Governance; Health Economics & Finance; Public Sector Economics
Volume No:	1

Summary: The author presents the view that informal economies arise when governments impose excessive taxes and regulations that they are unable to enforce. The author studies the determinants and effects of the informal sector using an endogenous growth model whose production technology depends essentially on congestable public services. In this model, changes (in both policy parameters and the quality of government institutions) that promote an increase in the relative size of the informal economy will also generate a reduction in the rate of economic growth. Using data from Latin American countries in the early 1990's, the author tests some of the model's implications and estimates the informal sector's size in these countries --identifying the size of the informal sector to latent variables for which multiple causes and indicators exist. The results suggest that: the size of the informal sector depends positively on proxies for tax burden and restrictions on the labor market; it depends negatively on a proxy for the quality of government institutions; and an increase in the size of the informal sector hurts growth by reducing the availability of public services for everyone in the economy, and by increasing the number of activities that use some existing pubic services less efficiently or not at all.


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	PDF 60 pages	WPS1727	1.89

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