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Une typologie des économies selon les dimensions de l'emploi dans l'économie informelle

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Résumé Compte tenu de l'importance des activités informelles, l'auteur propose de classer les pays selon les dimensions de l'emploi dans l'économie informelle plutôt que selon la composition de l'économie formelle. A partir de données du BIT portant sur trente‐six pays en développement, il fait apparaître une corrélation significative entre l'étendue et l'intensité de l'informalité et différents indicateurs sociaux et économiques: PNB par habitant, degré de corruption et de pauvreté et niveau de l'impôt et des cotisations sociales. Les implications de ces résultats pour la réflexion théorique et l'action sont ensuite exposées.

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Résumé L'auteur présente ici l'un des numéros de la Revue internationale du Travail publiés à l'occasion du 100e anniversaire de celle-ci. Ce numéro rassemble dix articles publiés dans la Revue entre 1975 et 2016 et consacrés exclusivement à l'analyse de l'informalité. L'auteur commence par tracer le cadre analytique, avec les origines de la notion d'informalité, puis commente les articles de ce numéro du centenaire, en les situant dans la littérature sur le sujet par des références de portée illustrative plutôt qu'exhaustive. Il conclut en s'interrogeant sur ce que les prochaines décennies pourraient amener en termes d'analyse et d'apports politiques.
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The full diversity of economic activities in the informal economy is not well understood. The apartheid legacy of limiting informal entrepreneurship explains the most obvious geographical patterns in South Africa. After a decade and a half since the end of apartheid, however, knowledge about the places from which informal entrepreneurs operate is incomplete. Retailing is overemphasized and production firm entrepreneurs, both male and female, remain a neglected spatiality. This study reports on a survey of 100 firms in Soweto and in-depth interviews with 30 firm owners. The findings challenge the representations of isolated urban entrepreneurs dependent on inherited social capital and of women's exclusive engagement in retail. Entrepreneurs create their own social capital in work-related realms, but there are important gender differences. More finely tuned conceptualizations of entrepreneurs and of gendered working spaces need to be developed so that policy does not perpetuate unitary myths and incomplete spatial representations.
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In the Tables 1.1 to 1.4 the size and development of 31 European and of five non-European shadow economies over the period 2003-2012 is presented 1 . If we first look at the results of the average size of the shadow economy of the 27 European Union countries, we realize, that the shadow economy in the year 2003 was 22.3% (of official GDP), decreased to 19.3% in 2008 and increased to 19.8 % in 2009 and then decreased again to 18.4 % in 2012 (Table 1.1). If we compare the average of 31 European countries, in 2003 the average size was 22.4%, decreased to 19.4% in 2008, and increased to 19.9%in 2009 and decreased to 18.5 in 2012 (Table 1.2). If we consider the development of the shadow economy of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the USA, we find a similar movement over time (see Table 1.3.); in 2012 these 5 countries had an average size of the shadow economy of 9.18%, in 2010 this value was 10.1%. If we consider the last 2 years (2011 and 2012) and compare them with the year 2008, we realize that in most countries we had again a decrease of the size and development of the shadow economy. This is due to the fact of the recovery from the world wide economic and financial crises. Hence the most important reason for this decrease is, that, if the official economy is recovering or booming, people have less incentives to undertake additional activi-ties in the shadow economy and to earn extra "black" money. The only exception is Greece, where the recession of the official economy is so strong, that it even reduced the demand of the shadow economy activities due to the severe income losses of the Greece people; the *) Prof. Dr. Dr.h. 1 The calculation of the size and development of the shadow economy is done with the MIMIC (Multiple Indica-tors and Multiple Courses) estimation procedure. As with the MIMIC estimation procedure one gets out only relative values, with the help of the currency demand approach for a few countries (Austria, Germany, Poland and Switzerland). These values have been calibrated into absolute ones. Source: Friedrich Schneider, Shadow Economy around the World: What do we really know?, European Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 21/2, Sep-tember 2005, page 598-642.
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It is now recognized that many entrepreneurs operate wholly or partially in the informal economy. Harnessing this hidden enterprise culture by facilitating its formalization is therefore a potentially effective and innovative means of promoting economic development and growth. To start evaluating how this might be achieved, the aim of this paper is to understand entrepreneurs’ motives for operating in the informal economy so as to identify the public policy interventions required to facilitate the formalization of this hidden enterprise culture. Reporting a survey of 51 nascent entrepreneurs in North Nottinghamshire, of which 43 were operating in the informal economy, the finding is that entrepreneurs’ rationales for working informally differ according to both whether they operate wholly in the informal economy or have registered enterprises but trade partially off-the-books, as well as whether they view themselves as on a journey towards formalization or not. Different policy measures are therefore required to tackle each type of informal entrepreneurship. The outcome is a tentative call for a more nuanced and bespoke policy approach for tackling the different kinds of informal entrepreneurship that comprise the hidden enterprise culture.
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The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically the gender variations in informal sector entrepreneurship. Until now, a widely-held belief has been that entrepreneurs operating in the informal sector in developing nations are lowly paid, poorly educated, marginalized populations doing so out of necessity as a survival strategy in the absence of alternatives. Reporting an extensive 2003 survey conducted in urban Brazil of informal sector entrepreneurs operating micro-enterprises with five or less employees, the finding is that although less than half of these entrepreneurs are driven out of necessity into entrepreneurial endeavor in the informal economy, women are more commonly necessity-driven entrepreneurs and receive lower incomes from their entrepreneurial endeavor than men despite being better educated. The outcome is a call to recognize how the gender disparities in the wider labor market are mirrored and reinforced by the participation of men and women in the realm of informal sector entrepreneurship.
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This article evaluates critically the contrasting explanations for the cross-national variations in the prevalence and nature of informal employment, which variously view such work as more prevalent in poorer, under-developed economies; driven by high taxes, corruption and state interference that lead workers to exit formal employment; or driven by inadequate state intervention leading to the exclusion of workers from formal employment and state welfare provision. By analysing cross-national variations across the European Union in the size of informal employment using indirect measurement methods and in its varying character using evidence from a 2007 Eurobarometer survey, it was found that wealthier, less corrupt and more equal economies with higher levels of labour market intervention, social protection and redistribution via social transfers have lower levels of informal employment, much of which is conducted to exit formal employment. The paper concludes by exploring the theoretical and policy implications.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate critically the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship that variously represent such endeavour as a residue from a previous mode of accumulation (modernisation theory), a direct by‐product of contemporary capitalism and survival strategy for those marginalised from the circuits of the modern economy (structuralism), an endeavour voluntarily pursued due to over‐regulation in the formal economy (neo‐liberalism) or a practice chosen for social, redistributive, political or identity reasons (post‐structuralism). Design/methodology/approach To evaluate these competing theories, a 2005/2006 survey involving face‐to‐face interviews with 298 informal entrepreneurs in Ukraine is analysed. Findings Contrary to previous studies which assert that one single theorisation is universally applicable, this study finds that each theory is valid for different types of informal entrepreneurship, and therefore proposes a typology of informal entrepreneurship that joins together the contrasting theorisations in order to achieve a more accurate and finer‐grained explanation of the complex and heterogeneous configuration of informal entrepreneurship in contemporary Ukraine. Research limitations/implications This paper reveals the need to move beyond treating the competing explanations as mutually exclusive by outlining a typology that combines the contrasting theorisations in order to more fully understand the heterogeneity of informal entrepreneurship. Practical implications By unravelling the heterogeneity of informal entrepreneurship, a more nuanced policy approach is shown to be required which does not seek to simply either eradicate such endeavour, pursue a laissez‐faire approach or harness such entrepreneurship but instead pursues all these approaches to varying extents in relation to different kinds of informal entrepreneur. Originality/value This is one of the first papers to identify and empirically evaluate the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship.
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The varieties of capitalism and employment relations literature have largely focused on formally regulated market economies, with a general neglect of the informal economy and of emerging markets where this work arrangement is dominant. In this article, however, the intention is to propose the Informally Dominated Market Economy as a form of capitalism that could be usefully incorporated into the industrial relations literature. To start to unpack this variety of capitalism, this article explores institutions and employment relations practices in the African economy of Mozambique. The outcome is a conceptual framework that includes both formal and informal institutions and considers the implications for work and employment relations.
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Purpose It is now widely recognised that in most economies there is a large number of hidden entrepreneurs operating wholly or partially “off‐the‐books”. Until now, however, there has been a degree of silence on the gendering of such entrepreneurship, including exploring whether men and women have different motives for participating in hidden/informal entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to begin to fill this gap in the knowledge. Design/methodology/approach The findings of face‐to‐face structured interviews with 130 informal entrepreneurs in England are reported; 70 are early‐stage entrepreneurs and 60 are established business owner‐managers, living in a range of affluent and deprived urban and rural English localities. Findings A key finding of the paper is that three‐quarters of entrepreneurs operate in the informal economy, with women informal entrepreneurs chiefly necessity‐driven and men being largely voluntary participants in informal entrepreneurship. Further unpacking their motives, however, reveals not only that both necessity and choice are co‐present motives for most informal entrepreneurs, but also that their motives change over time, with many women who originally entered informal entrepreneurship out of necessity becoming more opportunity‐driven. Research limitations/implications Although this survey is conducted in a diverse range of English localities to avoid the pitfall of generalizing from a specific locality‐type, it does not provide nationally representative data on informal entrepreneurship. Originality/value This is one of the first studies attempting to investigate why men and women engage in informal entrepreneurship.
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This paper critically evaluates the popular structuralist representation of informal workers as marginalized populations who work as dependent employees out of economic necessity and as a last resort. Reporting on an empirical survey of 1,518 informal workers in India, it reveals not only that a large proportion work on their own account as informal entrepreneurs, but also that not all do such work purely out of economic necessity and in the absence of alternative means of livelihood. The paper concludes by calling for a wider recognition of the opportunity-driven entrepreneurial endeavour of many working in the informal sector.
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Despite the growing recognition that many businesses start by trading on a partially or wholly off-the-books basis, there has been little investigation of whether the prevalence and character of this hidden enterprise culture varies spatially. The aim of this paper is to start to fill that gap. Reporting the results of face-to-face interviews conducted in affluent and deprived urban and rural English localities with 91 early-stage entrepreneurs and 81 established self-employed, it is shown that in all localities wholly legitimate businesses are just the tip of the iceberg and that beneath the surface is a large hidden enterprise culture. However, the preponderance of early-stage entrepreneurs and the established self-employed to trade off-the-books is greater in some locality-types than others. Not only do early-stage entrepreneurs and the established self-employed more commonly trade off-the-books in deprived and rural localities, but they are also more likely to trade wholly off-the-books and therefore not be even recognized as existing by official data sources. The implication is that deprived and rural communities are more enterprising and entrepreneurial than is currently recognized and, consequently, that legitimizing this hidden enterprise culture could be an important means of promoting enterprise and economic development in such communities. The paper concludes by briefly reviewing how this might be achieved.
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This article has two main aims. The first is to problematize the dominant view of the informal economy as a sort of separate economy, related primarily to (immigrant) small business and distinct from the so-called formal economy, which for the most part encompasses big companies as well as state economic activities. In contrast, the present article assumes that all economic actors are increasingly ready to adopt informal economic strategies to secure their economical survival. In line with this assumption, the second aim of the article is to contribute to our knowledge of the causes of, as well as the actors within, the current informalization trends that characterize Western economies. The article concludes that the informalization of contemporary advanced economies in general terms is a result of a structural conflict between new economic trends and old regulatory frameworks. These frameworks, with their focus on decommodification, have become too restrictive for new forms of capital accumulation, with their focus on flexible adaptation, which include an increasing demand for the re-commodification of labour. The conflict emerges and intensifies, among other reasons, because of the radically different internal operational logics, agendas and priorities that characterize these two social processes.
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This paper presents estimations of the shadow economies for 162 countries, including developing, Eastern European, Central Asian, and high income OECD countries over 1999 to 2006/2007. According to our estimations, the weighted average size of the shadow economy (as a percentage of 'official' GDP) in Sub-Saharan Africa is 37.6%, in Europe and Central Asia (mostly transition countries) 36.4% and in high income OECD countries 13.4%. We find that an increased burden of taxation (direct and indirect ones), combined with (labour market) regulations and the quality of public goods and services as well as the state of the 'official' economy are the driving forces of the shadow economy.
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Despite the growing recognition that many entrepreneurs conduct some or all of their trade off-the-books, few have evaluated whether there are variations in the rationales of men and women engaging in this shadow enterprise culture. Reporting face-to-face interviews with 331 entrepreneurs in Ukraine during 2005–06, of whom 90 per cent operated partially or wholly off-the-books, the finding is that women are largely ‘reluctant’ entrepreneurs and men more commonly chiefly ‘willing’ entrepreneurs, although both motives are normally co-present to differing degrees in entrepreneurs’ explanations and their relative importance changes over time. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for both further research and public policy.
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This paper is a first attempt to study the impact of enforcement on the shadow economy. Using a MIMIC model, we find that a higher share of sub-national government employment and the aspiration of public employees to follow rules significantly deter shadow economic activities. Our results also confirm previous findings: Increased burdens of taxation and regulation as well as the state of the “official” economy are important determinants of the shadow economy. The estimated weighted average informality in 162 countries around the world, including developing, Eastern European, Central Asian, and high-income OECD countries, is 17.1% of “official” GDP. KeywordsShadow economies–Quality of institutions–Enforcement–MIMIC Model
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To understand entrepreneurs' motivations, it has become increasingly common to distinguish between those driven by necessity (or pushed) and those driven by opportunity (or pulled) into entrepreneurship. Until now, entrepreneurs operating wholly or partially in the informal economy have been widely assumed to be necessity-driven, pushed into this enterprise as a survival strategy in the absence of alternatives. To evaluate whether this is indeed the case, this paper reports one of the first surveys of informal entrepreneurs' motives. Reporting face-to-face interviews conducted in Ukraine during 2005–06 with 298 informal entrepreneurs, the finding is although most identified themselves as necessity entrepreneurs when initially asked whether they were either pushed or pulled, subsequent questions reveal in the vast majority of cases, there were not only both push and pull factors driving their original decision to start-up informal enterprises, but also a clear shift among these entrepreneurs as their business became established away from necessity-oriented motivations and toward more opportunity-oriented motivations. The outcome is a call for a transcendence of a static either/or approach and the adoption of a dynamic both/and approach that recognizes the coexistence of necessity- and opportunity-drivers as well as the fluidity of entrepreneurs' motivations.
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For a long time, it has been the declared aim in many countries to fight tax evasion in all its different manifestations, from undeclared work by cleaners and gardeners in private households to tax evasion in the international capital markets. This study focuses on the phenomenon of undeclared work and the case of Germany, presenting the most comprehensive analysis of tax non-compliance for Germany to date, based on surveys conducted by the Rockwool Foundation. Theoretically, the analysis starts from the standard model of tax evasion as being influenced by the subjectively perceived extent of deterrence, the perceived marginal tax burden and social norms. Evidence is provided on the impact of deterrence and other factors on tax non-compliance, and several descriptive statistics are presented to better illustrate the natrure of undeclared work with regard to industry, region, education and other socio-economic characteristics. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012. All rights are reserved.
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Over a number of years, Friedrich Schneider and his team of collaborators have made an impressive effort to estimate the size of the shadow economy. This volume presents their work on data for the majority of the world's countries and also contains attempts to explain the driving forces behind the size and growth of the hidden economy. It will become a central reference for all economists interested in this aspect of the interaction between the public and private sectors - Agnar Sandmo, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Norway.
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The purpose of this contribution is to identify some of the issues which need to be addressed in order to advance the organisation of workers, and in particular women workers, in informal employment. The organisation of these workers, collectively described as the “informal sector”, represents an existential challenge to the trade union movement: unless and until it puts itself in a position to effectively address this challenge, it cannot halt its decline, but in order to do so it has to undergo fundamental changes in its culture, its self-awareness and the way it relates to society. The issue of organising the informal sector is at the heart of the necessary transformations the trade union movement must undergo to recover its potential as a global social force.
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In most OECD countries the policy instrument of choice to prevent people from working in the shadows has been deterrence. While deterrence is well founded from a theoretical point of view, the empirical evidence on its success is weak: tax policies and state deregulation appear to work much better. The discussion of the recent literature underlines that in addition to economic opportunities, the overall situation in the labor market and unemployment are crucial for an understanding of the dynamics of the shadow economy. Copyright 2010 The Authors. Journal Compilation Verein für Socialpolitik and Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2010.
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Based on extensive ethnographic and quantitative research, conducted in Ukraine and Russia between 2004 and 2012, this book)s central argument is that for many people the informal economy, such as cash in hand work, subsistence production and the use of social networks, is of great importance to everyday life. Formal work is both a facilitator of such processes and is often supported by them, as people can only afford to undertake low paid formal work as a result of their informal incomes. By looking at the informal nature of formal work and practices, informal practices, gift giving, volunteer work and the economies of the household the book is one of the first to give an overview of the nature of the informal economy in all spheres of everyday practice.