The study aims to investigate the research field of informality from a dual perspective—unilateral versus multilateral—in relation to Sustainable Development Goals. It highlights the dynamics of the literature and potential future research directions through mapping that enables the investigation of scientific knowledge. To elaborate the temporal development of the informality research field in terms of publications, we extract articles from Web of Science published between 1978–2021. We investigate more than 5000 documents, focusing on author, keyword, paper, journal, and topic analysis. The empirical findings emphasise the conceptual structure from the unilateral perspective, with clusters focusing on informality, urban informality, and sustainable development. Moreover, the informal economy, informality and entrepreneurship, tax evasion, tax morale and tax compliance, the shadow economy, the informal sector, and corruption are clusters from the multilateral perspective. According to the intellectual structure of the field, A. Roy is the most representative author for the subarea of informality and Sustainable Development Goals, with articles mostly related to urban informality and cities. F. Schneider, K. Gerxhani, R. LaPorta, B. Torgler, J. Alm, A. Sandmo, C. Williams, H. De Soto, and R. Dell’Anno are the most representative reference authors for the entire spectrum of informality. Finally, World Development, Geoforum, Environment and Urbanisation , Urban Studies, Habitat International, American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Literature, and Journal of Public Economy are the most prolific journals in the field of informality.
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Jun 1, 2024
Open Access
Lutz Bornmann + 1