Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration
Interventions over the past decades to encourage increased business formalization have shown mixed results and produced limited knowledge on how to address informality systematically. The scale of the informal sector in emerging and developing econ...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/642101607539592355/Re-thinking-the-Approach-to-Informal-Businesses-Typologies-Evidence-and-Future-Exploration http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34926 |
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okr-10986-349262021-04-23T14:02:11Z Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration Nielsen, William Iver Marusic, Andreja Ghossein, Tania Solf, Sylvia INVESTMENT CLIMATE INFORMAL SECTOR INFORMALITY INFORMAL BUSINESS FORMALIZATION TAX COMPLIANCE ENTREPRENEURS Interventions over the past decades to encourage increased business formalization have shown mixed results and produced limited knowledge on how to address informality systematically. The scale of the informal sector in emerging and developing economies, which accounts for 25 to 40 percent of GDP and often more than 60 percent of employment, merits rethinking approaches to formalization. Based on a review of relevant literature on informality and efforts to promote formalization, this paper will discuss the use of the term “informality” to align with the heterogeneity that exists within the informal sector and to identify factors that drive formality. From there, the paper proposes four specific areas for additional research and pilot interventions: (1) supporting informal clusters; (2) providing support to informal businesses without formalization as a target; (3) developing simplified, intermediate, and temporary legal statuses for informal businesses to better align with business needs and government goals; and (4) understanding behavioral insights that influence businesses’ decisions to remain informal and that can contribute to effective policy making. Throughout this discussion, the authors aim to motivate development and testing of new approaches to informality based on a deepened understanding of the needs of informal businesses. 2020-12-14T20:21:43Z 2020-12-14T20:21:43Z 2020-12-09 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/642101607539592355/Re-thinking-the-Approach-to-Informal-Businesses-Typologies-Evidence-and-Future-Exploration http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34926 English Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Insight; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Investment Climate Assessment |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
INVESTMENT CLIMATE INFORMAL SECTOR INFORMALITY INFORMAL BUSINESS FORMALIZATION TAX COMPLIANCE ENTREPRENEURS |
| spellingShingle |
INVESTMENT CLIMATE INFORMAL SECTOR INFORMALITY INFORMAL BUSINESS FORMALIZATION TAX COMPLIANCE ENTREPRENEURS Nielsen, William Iver Marusic, Andreja Ghossein, Tania Solf, Sylvia Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration |
| relation |
Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Insight; |
| description |
Interventions over the past decades to
encourage increased business formalization have shown mixed
results and produced limited knowledge on how to address
informality systematically. The scale of the informal sector
in emerging and developing economies, which accounts for 25
to 40 percent of GDP and often more than 60 percent of
employment, merits rethinking approaches to formalization.
Based on a review of relevant literature on informality and
efforts to promote formalization, this paper will discuss
the use of the term “informality” to align with the
heterogeneity that exists within the informal sector and to
identify factors that drive formality. From there, the paper
proposes four specific areas for additional research and
pilot interventions: (1) supporting informal clusters; (2)
providing support to informal businesses without
formalization as a target; (3) developing simplified,
intermediate, and temporary legal statuses for informal
businesses to better align with business needs and
government goals; and (4) understanding behavioral insights
that influence businesses’ decisions to remain informal and
that can contribute to effective policy making. Throughout
this discussion, the authors aim to motivate development and
testing of new approaches to informality based on a deepened
understanding of the needs of informal businesses. |
| format |
Report |
| author |
Nielsen, William Iver Marusic, Andreja Ghossein, Tania Solf, Sylvia |
| author_facet |
Nielsen, William Iver Marusic, Andreja Ghossein, Tania Solf, Sylvia |
| author_sort |
Nielsen, William Iver |
| title |
Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration |
| title_short |
Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration |
| title_full |
Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration |
| title_fullStr |
Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses : Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration |
| title_sort |
re-thinking the approach to informal businesses : typologies, evidence and future exploration |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/642101607539592355/Re-thinking-the-Approach-to-Informal-Businesses-Typologies-Evidence-and-Future-Exploration http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34926 |
| _version_ |
1764481948158263296 |