What Causes Firms to Hide Output? The Determinants of Informality
Posted: 15 Nov 2005
There are 2 versions of this paper
What Causes Firms to Hide Output?: The Determinants of Informality
Date Written: August 2005
Abstract
In many developing countries, a significant part of economic activity takes place in the informal sector. Earlier work has examined the determinants of the size of the informal sector, focusing separately on factors such as tax and regulation burden, financial market development, and the quality of the legal system. We revisit this issue by using an integrated dataset which contains rich information on all these aspects. Testing the channels affecting the degree of informality, we find evidence that all previously identified factors indeed play a role in driving informality. In particular, and consistent with the suggested theoretical model, we find support for the significance of the quality of the legal system.
Keywords: informal sector, determinants, institutions
JEL Classification: H26, H32, L25, O17
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation