Download or read book The Impact of the Informal Economy on GDP Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Chantal Wedderburn and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The informal, underground or shadow economy is a significant, growing force throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, contributing to overall output, yet diminishing productivity, congesting public services, and depriving developing nations of potential fiscal revenues. This paper discusses the various definitions and methods of measurement of the informal sector, with the aim of showing the importance of collecting taxes in informal economies. Informal economy participants engage in tax evasion and avoidance of governmental regulations, therefore the implications of excessive tax burdens and onerous bureaucracy are studied, with a focus on their impact on GDP growth. Informal sector enterprises can greatly contribute to the official, recorded GDP measures if they have significant incentives to joining the formal sector. These incentives are presented and must be considered seriously by policymakers concerned with capturing additional tax revenues and improving economic growth in their nations.
Download or read book Growth Employment and Equity written by Barbara Stallings and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Brookings Institution Press and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) publication In the last ten to fifteen years, the Latin American and Caribbean region has undergone the most significant transformation of economic policy since World War II. Through a series of structural reforms, an increasing number of countries have moved from closed, state-dominated economies to ones that are more market oriented and open to the rest of the world. Policymakers expected that these changes, in conjunction with lower rates of inflation and increased spending in the social area, would speed up economic growth, increase productivity, and lead to the creation of more jobs and greater equality. Have those expectations been fulfilled? Analyzing the impact of the reforms in nine countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru), this study provides a detailed picture of progress to date. At the overall regional level, the book suggests, the reforms have had a surprisingly small impact: a small positive impact on investment and growth, and a small negative impact on employment and income distribution. But at the country, sectoral, and microeconomic levels, it finds evidence of strong effects, with some units doing very well and others falling behind.
Download or read book Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Norman Loayza and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are suffering severe economic downturns and the success of market-oriented reforms is being called into question. This report seeks to contribute to the debate by examining the nature of economic growth in the region. The aim is threefold: to describe the basic characteristics of growth; explain differences across countries and to forecast changes over the next decade.
Download or read book The Long Shadow of Informality written by Franziska Ohnsorge and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2022-02-09 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.
Download or read book Out of the Shadows written by Patricia Fernández-Kelly and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the beginning of scholarly writing about the informal economy in the mid-1970s, the debate has evolved from addressing survival strategies of the poor to considering the implications for national development and the global economy. Simultaneously, research on informal politics has ranged from neighborhood clientelism to contentious social movements basing their claims on a variety of social identities in their quest for social justice. Despite related empirical and theoretical concerns, these research traditions have seldom engaged in dialogue with one another. Out of the Shadows brings leading scholars of the informal economy and informal politics together to address how globalization has influenced local efforts to resolve political and economic needs&—and how these seemingly separate issues are indeed deeply related. In addition to the editors, contributors are Javier Auyero, Miguel Angel Centeno, Sylvia Chant, Robert Gay, Mercedes Gonz&ález de la Rocha, Jos&é Itzigsohn, Alejandro Portes, and Juan Manuel Ram&írez S&áiz.
Download or read book Informality written by Guillermo Perry and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes informality in Latin America, exploring root causes and reasons for and implications of its growth. This book uses two distinct but complementary lenses. It concludes that reducing informality levels and overcoming the "culture of informality" will require actions to increase aggregate productivity in the economy.
Download or read book Law and Employment written by James J. Heckman and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Law and Employment analyzes the effects of regulation and deregulation on Latin American labor markets and presents empirically grounded studies of the costs of regulation. Numerous labor regulations that were introduced or reformed in Latin America in the past thirty years have had important economic consequences. Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman and Carmen Pagés document the behavior of firms attempting to stay in business and be competitive while facing the high costs of complying with these labor laws. They challenge the prevailing view that labor market regulations affect only the distribution of labor incomes and have little or no impact on efficiency or the performance of labor markets. Using new micro-evidence, this volume shows that labor regulations reduce labor market turnover rates and flexibility, promote inequality, and discriminate against marginal workers. Along with in-depth studies of Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Jamaica, and Trinidad, Law and Employment provides comparative analysis of Latin American economies against a range of European countries and the United States. The book breaks new ground by quantifying not only the cost of regulation in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in the OECD, but also the broader impact of this regulation.
Download or read book The economics of the informal sector a simple model and some empirical evidence from Latin America written by Norman A. Loayza and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Measuring the Informal Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Guillermo Javier Vuletin and published by INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. This book was released on 2008-04-01 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper estimates the size of the informal economy for 32 mainly Latin American and Caribbean countries in the early 2000s. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we find that a stringent tax system and regulatory environment, higher inflation, and dominance of the agriculture sector are key factors in determining the size of the informal economy. The results also confirm that a higher degree of informality reduces labor unionization, the number of contributors to social security schemes, and enrollment rates in education.
Download or read book Labor and Economic Reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past decade, most countries in the Latin America and Caribbean Region have stabilized their economies and lowered barriers to international trade. Many of the policies aimed at reducing poverty and tackling inequality in the 1960-1980 period were well intentioned, but the region made little or no progress in improving income distribution. With the recent shift toward market orientation and openness to international trade, these countries will need a new approach to labor policy as well as different instruments for addressing income distribution goals. This report gives special attention to four areas of labor policy: 1) change from direct government intervention in wage determination and strict seniority rules to a system that rewards effort, high productivity, and good management within a framework that relies on voluntary negotiation of working conditions between workers and firms; 2) replacement of job security legislation by a more effective mechanism that protects workers when they change jobs; 3) careful design of mandatory contributions to social security and other programs in order to minimize the distortionary effect of labor taxes; and 4) redirecting of government subsidies for training and education to the demand side and targeting to those who cannot afford to pay.
Download or read book Better Spending for Better Lives written by Alejandro Izquierdo and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-31 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Carmen Pag s and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-06-19 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a decade has passed since the introduction of comprehensive macroeconomic stabilization packages and trade, fiscal, and financial market reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, growth prospects remain disappointing; labor markets show lackluster performance, with low participation rates, high and persistent informality, and, in some cases, open unemployment. Creating viable and lasting employment is vital to reduce poverty and spread prosperity in the region. The failure to create more and more productive and rewarding jobs carries substantial political, social, and economic costs. 'Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent Trends and Policy Challenges' provides a thorough examination of the labor market trends in the region in recent decades and assesses the role that labor demand and labor supply factors have played in shaping these outcomes.
Download or read book The Economics of the Informal Sector written by Norman Loayza and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An increase in the size of the informal sector hurts growth by reducing the availability for public services for everyone in the economy and increasing the number of activities that use some existing public services less efficiently or not at all.Loayza presents the view that informal economies arise when governments impose excessive taxes and regulations that they are unable to enforce. Loayza 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 1990s, Loayza tests some of the model's implications and estimates the size of the informal sector in these countries - identifying the size of the informal sector to latent variable 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.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 public services less efficiently or not at all.This paper - a product of the Macroeconomics and Growth Division, Policy Research Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to examine the determinants of economic growth.
Download or read book Economics of the Informal Sector written by Norman Loayza and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: February 1997 An increase in the size of the informal sector hurts growth by reducing the availability for public services for everyone in the economy and increasing the number of activities that use some existing public services less efficiently or not at all. Loayza presents the view that informal economies arise when governments impose excessive taxes and regulations that they are unable to enforce. Loayza 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 1990s, Loayza tests some of the model's implications and estimates the size of the informal sector in these countries - identifying the size of the informal sector to latent variable 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. * 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 public services less efficiently or not at all. This paper - a product of the Macroeconomics and Growth Division, Policy Research Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to examine the determinants of economic growth.
Download or read book The Orange Economy written by Inter American Development Bank and published by Inter-American Development Bank. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This manual has been designed and written with the purpose of introducing key concepts and areas of debate around the "creative economy", a valuable development opportunity that Latin America, the Caribbean and the world at large cannot afford to miss. The creative economy, which we call the "Orange Economy" in this book (you'll see why), encompasses the immense wealth of talent, intellectual property, interconnectedness, and, of course, cultural heritage of the Latin American and Caribbean region (and indeed, every region). At the end of this manual, you will have the knowledge base necessary to understand and explain what the Orange Economy is and why it is so important. You will also acquire the analytical tools needed to take better advantage of opportunities across the arts, heritage, media, and creative services.
Download or read book Economic Informality written by Ana Maria Oviedo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This survey assembles recent theoretical and empirical advances in the literature on economic informality and analyzes the causes and costs of informality in developed and developing economies. Using recent evidence, the survey discusses the nature and roots of informal economic activity across countries, distinguishing between informality as the result of exclusion and exit. The survey provides an extensive review of recent international experience with policies aimed at reducing informality, in particular, policies that facilitate the formalization process, create a framework for the transition from informality to formality, lend support to newly created firms, reduce or eliminate inconsistencies across regulation and government agencies, increase information flows, and increase enforcement.
Download or read book Contrapunto written by Cathy A. Rakowski and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1994-07-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The informal sector denotes the small-scale, unprotected, and loosely regulated activities and self-employment that proliferate in developing countries. This book is about the people who engage in informal activities and the people who study, interpret, intervene in, promote, or attempt to repress or regulate the sector. The authors bring together and evaluate for the first time competing theories, policies, and research findings on the informal sector, dealing with issues of power, ideology, and politics; basic research, applied research, program evaluation, and policymaking; exploitation, entrepreneurship, and opportunity; and poverty and the accumulation of wealth.
