Menu Expand

Does Informality Hold the Key to Growth and Stability?

Cite JOURNAL ARTICLE

Style

Dutta, M. Does Informality Hold the Key to Growth and Stability?. Applied Economics Quarterly, 66(1), 29-45. https://doi.org/10.3790/aeq.66.1.29
Dutta, Meghna "Does Informality Hold the Key to Growth and Stability?" Applied Economics Quarterly 66.1, , 29-45. https://doi.org/10.3790/aeq.66.1.29
Dutta, Meghna: Does Informality Hold the Key to Growth and Stability?, in: Applied Economics Quarterly, vol. 66, iss. 1, 29-45, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/aeq.66.1.29

Format

Does Informality Hold the Key to Growth and Stability?

Dutta, Meghna

Applied Economics Quarterly, Vol. 66 (2020), Iss. 1 : pp. 29–45

Additional Information

Article Details

Pricing

Author Details

Meghna Dutta, Indian Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Patna, Bihta, Patna 801103. Phone: 0612-3028724.

References

  1. Alberola, E./Urrutia, C. (2019): “Does Informality Facilitate Inflation Stability?” BIS Working Paper 778, Switzerland.  Google Scholar
  2. Amin, M. (2010): “Labor Productivity in the Informal Sector: Necessity vs. Opportunity Firms”, The World Bank, mimeo.  Google Scholar
  3. Amin, N. A. T. M. (1987): “The Role of the Informal Sector in Economic Development: Some Evidence from Dhaka, Bangladesh”, International Labour Review 126 (5), 611–623.  Google Scholar
  4. Arellano, M./Bond, S. R. (1991): “Some Specification Tests for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations”, Review of Economic Studies 58, 277–298.  Google Scholar
  5. Asfuroglu, D./Elgin, C. (2015): “Growth Effects of Inflation under the Presence of Informality”, Bulletin of Economic Research 68 (4), 0307–3378.  Google Scholar
  6. Bacchetta, M. /Ernst, E./Bustamente, J. (2009): “Globalization and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries”, Geneva: World Trade Organization and International Labour Organization.  Google Scholar
  7. Besley, T./Persson, T. (2013): “Taxation and Development”, Discussion Papers 9307. CEPR.  Google Scholar
  8. Brambor, T./Clark, W. R./Golder, M. (2006): “Understanding interaction models: Improving empirical analyses”, Political Analysis 14, 63–82.  Google Scholar
  9. Buehn, A./Dell’Anno, R./Schneider, F. (2015): “Exploring The Dark Side Of Tax Policy: An Analysis of the Interaction Between Fiscal Illusion and the Shadow Economy,” Working Papers No. 5466. Munich. CESifo.  Google Scholar
  10. Canzoneri, M. B./Caril A. R. (1990): “Is the European Community an optimal currency area? Optimal taxation versus the cost of multiple currencies,” American Economic Review 80, 419–433.  Google Scholar
  11. Castillo, P./Montoro, C. (2012): “Inflation Dynamics in the Presence of Informal Labour Markets”, BIS Working Paper 372, Mexico.  Google Scholar
  12. Cavalcanti, T. V. de V./Villamil, A. P. (2003): “Optimal Inflation Tax and Structural Reform”, Macroeconomic Dynamics 7, 333–362.  Google Scholar
  13. Charmes, J. (2009): “Concepts, Measurement and Trends”, in: Is Informal Normal? Towards More and Better Jobs in Developing Countries (edited by P. Jutting and J. R. de Laiglesia). OECD Development Centre Perspective.  Google Scholar
  14. Charmes, J. (2000): “Informal Sector, Poverty, and Gender: A Review of Empirical Evidence”, 2nd Edition, Versailles-St Quentin en Yvelines: Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).  Google Scholar
  15. Chen, M. A. (2006): “Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment”, in (edited by B. Guha-Khasnobis, R. Kanbur, and E. Ostrom): Linking the Formal and Informal Economy – Concepts and Policies, Oxford University Press, 75–92.  Google Scholar
  16. Chen, M. A. (2012): “Informal Economy: Definitions, Theories and Policies”, Cambridge: Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).  Google Scholar
  17. Cukierman, A./Sebastian, E./Tabellini, G. (1992): “Seigniorage and Political Instability”, American Economic Review 82, 537–555.  Google Scholar
  18. Dabla-Norris, E./Inchauste, G./Gradstein, M. (2008): “What Causes Firms to Hide Output? The determinants of informality”, Journal of Development Economics 85, 1–27.  Google Scholar
  19. Dattalo, P. (2013): Analysis of Multiple Dependent Variables, Oxford University Press, London.  Google Scholar
  20. De Soto, H. (2000): The Mystery of Capital – Why Capital Triumphs in the West but fails Everywhere Else?, Basic Books.  Google Scholar
  21. Elgin, C./Oztunali, O. (2012): Shadow economy all around the world: Model based estimates, Working Paper 2012–05, Bogazici University Economics Department.  Google Scholar
  22. Elgin, C./Uras, R. B. (2013): “Is Informality a Barrier to Financial Development?”, Series 4, 309–331.  Google Scholar
  23. Grossman, G. (1982): “The ‘Second Economy’ of the USSR’’, in (edited by Tanzi et al.) The Underground Economy in the United States and Abroad, Lexington, Mass., D.C. Heath.  Google Scholar
  24. International Labour Organization (2015): “Measuring Informality: A Statistical Manual on the Informal Sector and Informal Employment”, Geneva: ILO.  Google Scholar
  25. Kinyanjui, M. N. (2014): Women and the Informal economy in Urban Africa: From the Margins to the Centre, London: Zed Books.  Google Scholar
  26. Koreshkova, T, A. (2006): “A Quantitative Analysis of Inflation as a Tax on the Underground Economy”, Journal of Monetary Economics 53, 773–796.  Google Scholar
  27. La Porta, R./Shleifer, A. (2008): “The Unofficial Economy and Economic Development”, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 275–352.  Google Scholar
  28. La Porta, R./Shleifer, A. (2014): “Informality and Development”, Journal of Economic Perspectives 28 (3),109–126.  Google Scholar
  29. Levy, S. (2007): Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Informality, Productivity, and Growth in Mexico, Brookings Institution Press.  Google Scholar
  30. Lewis, A. W. (1972): “Reflections on Unlimited Supplies of Labor”, in International Economics and Development Essays in Honor of Raul Prebisch (edited by L. E. diMarco), Academic Press, New York, 75–96.  Google Scholar
  31. Loayza, N. V. (1997): “The Economics of the Informal Sector: A Simple Model and Some Empirical Evidence from Latin America,” Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy 45, 129–162.  Google Scholar
  32. Loayza, N./Maria, O. A./Servén, L. (2006): “The Impact of Regulation on Growth and Informality: Cross-Country Evidence,” in (edited by B. Guha-Khasnobis, R. Kanbur, and E. Ostrom): Linking the Formal and Informal Economy – Concepts and Policies, Oxford University Press, 121–145.  Google Scholar
  33. Loayza, N./Rigolini, J. (2007): “Informality Trends and Cycles,” Washington: The World Bank.  Google Scholar
  34. Mazhar, U./Jaffri, J. (2017): “Can the Shadow Economy Undermine the Effect of Political Stability On Inflation? Empirical Evidence”, Journal of Applied Economics XX (2), 395–420.  Google Scholar
  35. Mazhar, U./Pierre-Guillaume, M. (2017): “Taxing The Unobservable: The Impact of The Shadow Economy On Inflation And Taxation,” World Development 90, 89–103.  Google Scholar
  36. NCEUS (2009): “The Challenge of Employment in India – An Informal Economy Perspective,” National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector, Government of India, New Delhi.  Google Scholar
  37. Nicolini, J. P. (1998): “Tax Evasion and the Optimal Inflation Tax,” Journal of Development Economics 55, pp. 215–232.  Google Scholar
  38. Perry, G. E./Maloney, W. F./Arias, O. S./Fajnzylber, R. /Mason, A. D./Saavedra, C. J. (2007): “Informality: Exit and Exclusion,” Washington, DC: World Bank.  Google Scholar
  39. Romer, D. (1993): “Openness and Inflation: Theory and Evidence,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 108, November, 869–903.  Google Scholar
  40. Roubini, N./Salai-i Martin, X. (1995) “A Growth Model of Inflation, Tax Evasion, and Financial Repression”, Journal of Monetary Economics 35 (2), 275–301.  Google Scholar
  41. Schneider, F. (2005): “Shadow Economies around the World: What do We Really Know?” European Journal of Political Economy (21), 598–642.  Google Scholar
  42. Schneider, F./Buehn, A./Montenegro, C. E., (2010): New Estimates for the Shadow Economies all over the World, Bonn: The Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA).  Google Scholar
  43. Stata Corp (2017): Stata Statistical Software: Release 15. College Station, TX: Stata Corp LP.  Google Scholar
  44. Wynne, M. A./Kersting, E. K. (2007): “Openness and Inflation,” Staff Papers, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, No. 2, April.  Google Scholar
  45. World Bank (2015): World Development Indicators 2015, World Bank, Washington, DC.  Google Scholar

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyse the impact of a prevailing informal sector on the dynamics of growth and inflation in developing economies. The high growth rates posited by most developing economies in the presence of a huge informal sector suggest that this sector might not be the malefactor as often indicated. The main results show that the informal economy not only contributes to economic growth but the firms also help to significantly reduce inflation by generating employment and hence maintain political stability in the economy despite the existence of a huge pool of “surplus labourers”.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Meghna Dutta: Does Informality Hold the Key to Growth and Stability? 1
Abstract 1
1. Introduction 1
2. Research Design and Study Variables 3
(a) Independent Variables 4
(b) Econometric Specifications 6
3. Results and Discussion 7
3.1 Robustness Checks 1
4. Conclusion 1
References 1
Appendix 1