Informal Level Research Articles

Probability of Detection and Value Added Tax Compliance among Small and Medium Enterprises in Westlands Sub County, Nairobi, Kenya: Moderating Effect of Tax Service Quality

Purpose: Value-added tax compliance has remained a challenge, especially when it comes to SMEs operating in Kenya. The high level of informality of this sector provides an incentive for most of the SMEs to evade payment of VAT, a situation that has constrained the amount of tax revenues available to finance fiscal budget. This study aimed to determine the moderating role of tax service quality on the relationship between probability of detection and value added tax compliance among small and medium enterprises in Westlands Sub County, Nairobi, Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted an explanatory design targeting 751 SMEs operating in Westlands Sub- County, Nairobi, Kenya as registered by Nairobi City County. The sample frame was the list of SMEs in Westlands Sub- County that is available in Nairobi City County. The sample size was 261 owners of the said SMEs who were stratified into four categories based on the nature of undertaking of their business and a representative sample from each of these categories was drawn. Gathering of information was by use of a questionnaire. To analyze the collected information, descriptive statistics like means and standard deviations as well as multiple regression analysis was adopted. Results: Regression of coefficients showed that probability of detection had a positive and significant effect on VAT compliance of SMEs (β=0.358, p=0.000). The findings also revealed that tax service quality moderates the relationship between probability of detection and value added tax compliance among small and medium enterprises (β= 0.086, ρ<0.05). Conclusion: The study concluded that probability of detection had a positive and significant effect on VAT compliance of SMEs. In addition, the study concluded that tax service quality moderate the relationship between probability of detection, on value added tax compliance among small and medium enterprises in Westlands Sub County, Nairobi, Kenya. KRA should increase the rate probability of audit detection by coming up with new mechanisms of audit detection thus enhancing VAT compliance of VAT amongst the SMEs. The government should strive to provide SME owners in Westlands Sub County, Nairobi, with services that are of high standards for example at the tax stations as clearly stated in the corporate plan to reduce the need for spending costs to hire skilled persons such as tax consultants.

Veiled costs, concealed incentives: Rethinking market approaches to address institutional marginalization and reduce vulnerability of artisanal fishers to power abuses in the Peruvian dolphinfish fishery

Market-based approaches play a crucial role in promoting seafood sustainability by leveraging market incentives. Typically, these incentives are commonly perceived as closely associated with premium prices or improved market access. As such, arguments around product competitiveness are used by various stakeholders to engage the lower levels of the seafood supply chain in sustainability initiatives. This study presents findings from an analysis of secondary and primary data obtained through a two-tier survey, focusing on the operational costs of Peruvian artisanal dolphinfish fleets and estimating the concealed costs that result from institutional malpractice and coercive transactions from criminal groups. Our analysis reveals that the artisanal fishing sector, due to institutional marginalization facilitated by bureaucratic overburdening, experiences various forms of power abuse. Specifically, we show how the higher the levels of informality of the fleet’s operation, the higher the probability of being subject to unethical behavior. This results in heightened hidden operational costs, which in turn affect the income of vessel owners and fishers. To address these issues, we argue that market-based approaches should build upon the new incentives offered by import-control schemes and anti-Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated regulations, prioritizing actions to alleviate institutional marginalization of fishers. By doing so, responsible companies in the supply chain can effectively reduce legal, economic, and reputational risks while actively tackling the critical factors contributing to power imbalances and the resulting unequal distribution of benefits.

Infrastructure Transitions in Southern Cities: Organising Urban Service Delivery for Climate and Development

Rapidly growing cities in the Global South are characterised by high levels of vulnerability and informality and are expected to bear a disproportionate share of the costs of a changing climate. The confluence of climate change impacts, inequitable urbanisation processes, and under-development emphasise the need for accelerated urban transitions in Southern cities, yet mainstream theories of urban sustainability transitions have been shown to be insufficient for such contexts. This is particularly relevant with regard to urban infrastructure: While mainstream urban theory tends to regard infrastructure as static, centralised, and heavily engineered, infrastructure configurations in cities of the Global South are often heterogeneous, comprising multiple dynamic social and material flows. Drawing on theory from Southern Urbanism and empirical data of unorthodox infrastructures from 14 cities, this article assesses the potential challenges posed by applying a key transitions framework—namely the Multi-Level Perspective—in Southern contexts. The article closes by suggesting a set of theoretical propositions for future conceptual and empirical research that could advance transitions literature more broadly, and highlights the need for all cities to pursue inclusive service delivery models that are responsive to the complex and shifting landscape of climate impacts.

‘Things have changed since we last spoke…’: The impacts of parental death on the life and livelihood of a young informal vendor in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

AbstractWhile an increasing number of studies concerning youth and informality have examined the complex relationship between youth, informal work and transitions to adulthood, this literature has paid little attention to how the death of a family member presents distinctive challenges to young vendors' life and livelihood progression. Addressing this, the paper draws on a case study of a small‐scale informal worker in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who was participating in in‐depth ethnographic research when their father died suddenly. Through this, it investigates how parental death intersects with the challenges a young vendor experienced working informally while simultaneously attempting to achieve transitions to anticipated adulthood. Life‐mapping interviews and participatory timeline diagrams were employed, gaining rich insights into a young vendor's experiences of parental death, revealing how these were shaped by an interplay between the past, present and future. More specifically, the research, which brings together literature concerning youth, informality and family relations, explores how parental death can (re)configure a young person's household roles, responsibilities and relations in response to sudden precarity in the present, reshaping priorities and plans towards achieving goals over different timeframes. Given persistent levels of informality and uncertainty across employment in sub‐Saharan Africa and beyond, this article provides a timely contribution by highlighting the need for more studies to investigate how parental death creates and exacerbates the challenges youth vendors experience, constraining their abilities to grow and sustain their lives and livelihoods within the informal sector.

Domestic and Care Work Platforms in Latin America: A Typology Based on Worker Employment Classification

Domestic and care work is a largely feminized sector marked by high levels of informality, low wages, and precarious working conditions worldwide. Over the past decade, particularly in the United States and Europe, new intermediaries have emerged, organizing search and hiring services through digital platforms. More recently, significantly driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, these platforms have proliferated in Latin America, raising questions about the effects of this new form of intermediation in the region. While the dominant global view on digital labor platforms is that they lead to the precarization of working conditions, emerging international literature questions whether they might contribute to the formalization of the sector. This hypothesis is based on recognizing certain characteristics of digital intermediaries that can institutionalize the employment relationship in an activity that largely operates outside of regulation, where direct hiring and personalized negotiation of working conditions prevail. At the same time, the literature warns that certain business models of these platforms contribute to non-formalization and promote hiring practices that deepen precariousness. Within this debate, this article aims to contribute to understanding the intermediation methods of these new actors in Latin America, considering that the employment classification of workers is crucial for their access to rights. To this end, the article presents a regional mapping of digital platforms operating in the sector and proposes a typology based on the business models and types of hiring promoted by the studied platforms.

FINANCIAL LITERACY, INFORMALITY, AND SMALL BUSINESS OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN ZIMBABWE

Introduction: The exponential growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in many developing economies is a well-documented phenomenon in business literature. However, research indicates that the expansion of most SMEs is hindered by financial illiteracy and high levels of informality, posing significant challenges to their performance and long-term sustainability. Concerns arise from the fact that only a small fraction of these enterprises successfully transition into larger firms. This study sought to address these issues by investigating the levels of financial literacy among 120 SMEs operating in Harare and Bindura, taking into account the pervasive informality within the sector. The research also aimed to evaluate the relationship between financial literacy and SME operational performance. Methods: Employing a quantitative approach within an explanatory research design, data collection was facilitated through a structured questionnaire. To capture the diverse landscape of SMEs operating in an informal context, both purposive and convenience sampling methods were utilized to select participants for the survey. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted using SPSS software. Results: The findings of the study revealed a significant positive impact of financial literacy on SME operational performance, indicating that advanced financial literacy can contribute to enhanced business outcomes. Moreover, the research observed an improvement in financial literacy within SME operations, evidenced by increased awareness and application of financial management skills. Conclusion and suggestion: The study recommends that efforts to promote financial literacy among SMEs should be intensified through advanced financial education initiatives, awareness campaigns, and enhanced financial inclusion strategies. Financial service providers are encouraged to play a proactive role in supporting SME growth by investing in financial awareness programs, funding educational initiatives, and actively engaging SMEs in key economic policy frameworks. Ultimately, SMEs are urged to fully embrace financial literacy as a fundamental pathway for achieving sustainable growth and long-term business success amidst the challenges of informality.

Effect of Social Media on Medical College Students

Social media has transformed medical education, offering various benefits such as access to diverse learning resources, collaboration opportunities, and networking with professionals worldwide. It's indeed a double-edged sword, offering both benefits and drawbacks. On one hand, social media provides a convenient platform for accessing study materials, communicating with peers, and even engaging with instructors and academic resources. It can foster collaboration, critical thinking, and knowledge sharing. Platforms like Twitter work particularly well for delivering journal clubs and Tweetorials because they permit live global participation. Furthermore, it provides a level of informality that makes experts easier to reach, regardless of status or seniority.

Aspects of the Evolution of Cooperation Between the Intelligence Services of States

This article analyzes some aspects of the evolution of intelligence services, in terms of identifying and analyzing the phenomenon of cooperation between them in order to achieve common objectives. Since ancient times, in addition to the forms and instruments of specific action to the secret services of the states, due to common values, interests and objectives, for a concrete period of time or principle, the intelligence services have cooperated not only on an informal level, but also based on intergovernmental agreements or treaties. The evolution of the phenomenon of cooperation between the intelligence services, some elements specific to the periods of cooperation, the necessity and importance of this kind of collaboration are analyzed in the text of this research.

An empirical study of firm characteristics, degree of informality, and productivity heterogeneity in the Indian informal sector

ABSTRACT Traditionally, informal firms are assumed to be a homogeneous mix of firms structurally different from formal firms. However, the emerging literature recognizes the high level of heterogeneity among the informal firms and hypothesizes that these informal firms vary in terms of their degree of informality. The goal of this study is to understand the characteristics of the firms operating at different levels of informality and to investigate its impact on firm performance, using a nationally representative dataset from India. We find that firms that are female-owned, rurally located, unbanked, have small asset sizes, and belong to traditional sectors are more likely to operate at higher informal levels. We also find that less informal firms are more productive. We also estimate the average treatment effect using propensity score matching as a robustness check.

Analysis of the Gap in Economic Informality between Africa and the Advanced and Emerging Countries

This paper analyzes the factors that account for economic informality disparities between African countries and advanced and emerging economies. The study encompasses a survey of 84 nations, comprising 44 African countries, during the span of 1995-2015. The econometric outcomes, acquired from Krӧger and Hartmann's (2021) decomposition model, indicate that, on average, the level of informality in African country's economy is greater than that of advanced and emerging countries (OECD+). An increase in the standard of living of the population, an improvement in the control of corruption and the strengthening of financial development could enable African countries to reduce the explained gap. However, fiscal freedom, technological infrastructure, trade liberalization and political stability increase the explained gap. Furthermore, human capital and technological infrastructure reduce the total gap.

Public expenditure multipliers and informality

This paper investigates the role of informality in affecting the magnitude of the public expenditure multiplier in a panel of 142 countries, using the local projections method. We find a strong negative relationship between the degree of informality and the size of the multiplier. This result holds irrespective of the level of economic development and institutional quality and is robust to additional country characteristics such as trade and financial openness and exchange rate regime. In a two-sector New-Keynesian model, we rationalize this result by showing that fiscal shocks raise the relative price of official goods, thereby shifting demand towards the informal sector. This reallocation effect increases with the level of informality, because a larger informal sector is associated with a stronger appreciation of relative prices in response to fiscal shocks, and thus reduces the multiplier.

Examination of Seventh Grade Students' Van Hiele Geometric Thinking Levels and Their Mistakes on 'Quadrilaterals'

In this study, it was aimed to examine seventh grade students' Van Hiele geometric thinking levels and their mistakes on 'Quadrilaterals'. The research was conducted with ten seventh grade students and the case study model, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The Van Hiele geometric thinking levels test developed by Usiskin and the diagnostic test developed by Başısık were rearranged and administered to the students. According to the research findings, seventh grade students have misconceptions about diagonal, height concepts and special quadrilaterals. One of the most important of these is that the square positioned on one corner cannot be recognized by students at the analysis level, but is recognized by students at the visualization level. Students at the analysis and visualization levels have different misconceptions regarding the trapezoid. While there is a misconception that all side lengths must be different from each other as a condition for being a trapezoid, there is also a misconception that having four sides is sufficient. Another one is related to the concept of diagonal. There is a misconception that shapes with equal side lengths also have equal diagonal lengths. While no errors or misconceptions were encountered in students at the informal level, misconceptions were encountered in students at the analysis level, and more errors were encountered in students who were visualization and could not be assigned to any level.

Exploratory analysis of the determinants of informality in emerging and frontier economies: an institutional approach via PLS-SEM

ABSTRACT This study explores the link between informality and institutional quality in 48 emerging economies from 2013 to 2018, using partial least squares – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). It delves into the role of informality and the poorly understood drivers in these economies. This study models property rights, public fund diversion, and government transparency. This study explores systemic conditions and finds a complex link between weaker institutions and increased informality. The analysis found an association between lower institutional quality and higher levels of informality, aligning with the theory that more robust institutions are linked to fewer informal activities. However, the analysis also indicated that systemic factors have a significant relationship with the degree of informality. Mediation analysis indicated an association between systemic issues, reduced institutional quality, and increased informality. State legitimacy, inequality, and factionalism have been highlighted as potential areas to address in an effort to decrease informality. Enhancing systemic conditions and public fund oversight may be important considerations. A dual approach to institutional and systemic reforms has been suggested. Regional differences indicate a need for further research on context-specific drivers. This exploratory PLS-SEM study offers detailed evidence to aid formalization policies in emerging economies.

Resource Mobilisation, Utilisation and Wellbeing of Social and Solidarity Groups In The Assin Fosu Municipality, Ghana.

Purpose: The study focused on farm-based cooperatives in the Assin Fosu municipality and examined resource mobilisation as well as the factors that determine resource utilisation and the wellbeing of social and solidarity organisations.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: 180 respondents from six registered farm-based cooperatives in the Assin Fosu Municipality were chosen for the study using a mixed research design and a multi-stage sample method that included purposive, proportional, and simple random sampling procedures. The Focus Group comprised cooperative chairpersons and was further expanded to include the Municipal Co-operative Officer, who was specifically chosen as a key informant. In addition to narratives drawn from qualitative data, descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine the data.
 Research Implications/Limitations: The limitation of this study is the measurement of farm size and income which were based on the mental construct of farmers because most of the cooperative members did not keep records. This tended to distort the reality related to farm size and income which were included in the construct of wellbeing and collective resource mobilisation.
 Findings: We discovered that, except for cooperatives based on cocoa, resource mobilisation was low across all the cooperatives. The study found that the mobilisation of resources and the collective purchase of agricultural equipment and supplies, which reduced production costs, were the driving forces behind resource utilisation. The main wellbeing indicators were longer membership durations and group resource mobilisation and utilisation.
 Practical Implications: The findings of the study will help contribute to the management of social and solidarity groups in Ghana and broaden the understanding of how this development approach affects livelihoods. It is also hoped that the findings will contribute to the mitigation of the cost of neoliberal policies by providing a path to wellbeing at the micro and informal levels through group resource mobilisation and utilisation.
 Social Implications: Social and Solidarity organisations serve as an alternative to economic organisations that are based on neoliberal principles. This is because the latter favours the dominant few in developing economies culminating in widespread poverty, inequalities, and a decline in wellbeing. To maximise wellbeing, cooperatives should intensify resource mobilisation, and utilisation whilst maintaining their membership.
 Originality/Value: The novelty of this paper lies in its contribution to the literature on social and solidarity economies. It provides information on the missing link on how farm-based cooperatives mobilise and utilise resources for the wellbeing of their members.

Yumurta Üretimi ve Tüketimi, Teshie Belediyesi Anket Çalışması (Gana)

This study was carried out to assess the production and consumption rate of eggs in Teshie municipality, a part of the Greater Accra region of Ghana. A total of 118 questionnaires were administered to inhabitants of Teshie Municipality to assess the rate of egg consumption and production pattern among consumers, sellers, and producers. Seventy-eight of the respondents were egg consumers, 36 were egg sellers and 4 were egg producers (poultry farmers). Most of the egg consumers (71.9%), producers (50%), and sellers (63%) were Christians. The majority of the egg producers (75%) and consumers (59%) were men however, most (94%) of the sellers were women. All the respondents had some form of formal or informal level of education. All the egg producers and most (61,1%) of the egg sellers were between the ages of 36-60yrs however, egg consumption was highest among the age range of 19-35yrs. The egg consumption rate was very low (4 times/ week) in the study area. All the egg producers reared their chickens in the floor or litter production system and with the majority (75%) indicating the rainy season as a period of high mortality rate among chickens.

Formulation of Underage Marriage in The Perspective of Islamic Law and Legal Sociology

The child's independence in pursuing ideals and realizing success for the future is a desire for parents and the country. This can be achieved when the child has carried out a good learning process that can be taken through the formal or informal level. However, the irony that occurs if a child's dream of becoming a person is useful for the future, religion, and the state must be cut off with what happens, such as marriages that are still not on time or underage marriages. This research aims to analyze underage marriages from the perspective of Islamic law and understand the benchmarks of legal awareness in society to minimize the occurrence of underage marriages and to know the implications of underage marriages. This study is library research using a qualitative approach. The results show that Marriage is a strong bond or mitsqon golidhon carried out by couples who have met the age limit or baligh, but marriages, carried out by someone who is underage must be based on a recommendation through a marriage dispensation issued by a religious court. Second, community indicators in realizing legal knowledge and understanding will form a stable legal attitude so that they can apply patterns of legal behavior. Third, the implications of underage marriage include the disruption of compulsory education, Fulfillment of subsistence, which is not optimal for the families, diversion of responsibility to parents because they have not been able to work properly, Reproductive health conditions are still vulnerable due to lack of good nutrition and give rise to poverty and vulnerability to divorce.

“We literally worked in parking lots, cars, garages, and separately set up party tents”: qualitative study on the experiences of GPs in the frame of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Austria

BackgroundPrimary care is internationally recognised as one of the cornerstones of health care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, primary care physicians were assigned a variety of tasks and thus made a significant contribution to a country’s pandemic response. They were expected to perform a variety of tasks, such as diagnosing and treating people with COVID-19, maintaining health care for all other patients, as well as several public health tasks, such as diagnostic testing and vaccination, protecting patients and staff from infection, and serving as community trusted persons. In Austria, there are no structured levels of care, no definition of the role of the general practitioner during a pandemic is given, and no specific support structures are present. The aim of this study was to assess the views and experiences of primary care physicians regarding supportive and hindering factors for pandemic preparedness in Austria.MethodsQualitative study using semi-structured interviews. A total of 30 general practitioners were interviewed, with particular attention to an equitable distribution in small, medium and large primary care facilities. Qualitative content analysis was performed.ResultsInterviewees described a wide range of infection control, organisational and communication measures that they had implemented. They made changes to practise equipment, found makeshift solutions when supplies were scarce, and established communication and information pathways when official communication lines were inadequate.ConclusionGeneral practitioners took on essential tasks and showed a high level of understanding of their role in the pandemic response. This was achieved mainly at an informal level and with high personal commitment. Their functioning in the absence of structural regulations and support shows that they had a clear intrinsic understanding of their responsibilities. To ensure reliability and sustainability and to reduce their burden, it will be necessary to clarify the role and tasks of a general practitioner and to provide the necessary support. This concerns both infrastructural support and communication and information strategies. As part of the reform to strengthen primary care, primary care needs to be seen, valued and involved in decision-making processes.

Verifying an Effect-Handler-Based Define-By-Run Reverse-Mode AD Library

We apply program verification technology to the problem of specifying and verifying automatic differentiation (AD) algorithms. We focus on define-by-run, a style of AD where the program that must be differentiated is executed and monitored by the automatic differentiation algorithm. We begin by asking, "what is an implementation of AD?" and "what does it mean for an implementation of AD to be correct?" We answer these questions both at an informal level, in precise English prose, and at a formal level, using types and logical assertions. After answering these broad questions, we focus on a specific implementation of AD, which involves a number of subtle programming-language features, including dynamically allocated mutable state, first-class functions, and effect handlers. We present a machine-checked proof, expressed in a modern variant of Separation Logic, of its correctness. We view this result as an advanced exercise in program verification, with potential future applications to the verification of more realistic automatic differentiation systems and of other software components that exploit delimited-control effects.

Rethinking Development in Latin America

ABSTRACT Latin American countries face a crossroad that demands profound change in their development paradigm. In the last four decades economic growth, investment, and productivity have shown poor performance. This has made it impossible to break with the productive heterogeneity that characterises the region and its dependence on low value-added productive sectors and commodity-dependent export structures. Although there has been a positive advance in human development, high levels of inequality, poverty, social exclusion, and high labour market informality have been persistent in the countries of the region. Added to these structural problems is the need to face climate change, that has important distributive and social effects and requires a significant amount of investment in adaption and mitigation a will require a change in the development paradigm. A fiscal sustainability framework will be essential to ensure the viability of the public spending required to promote structural change. The framework should prioritise domestic resource mobilisation, through public revenues, which have historically been insufficient to meet the demands for public spending.

Patterns of social behavior among informal workers during extreme events: lessons from social life during the Covid-19 pandemic in Lima, Peru.

This study analyzes changes in social life during the pandemic and the early stages of the post-pandemic period within a population characterized by high levels of informality in Lima, particularly the textile district of Gamarra, encompassing 89,123 people. A qualitative approach was adopted, based on 62 semi-structured interviews with garment manufacturers, in-store traders, and street vendors. Two distinct moments could be identified: a) experiences confronting the shock induced by the Covid-19 pandemic; and b) experiences of reconfiguring work and daily life, alongside strategies adopted by the population. In conclusion, the study suggests that some elements of daily life acquired during the Covid-19 pandemic may carry over into the future, inducing society to place greater emphasis on preventive measures against emerging risks, including behaviors related to hygiene and health, fostering closer family ties, increased utilization of digitalization and hybrid work models, and the cultivation of enhanced social capital.