Presence Of Informality Research Articles

Housing supply in the presence of informality

Informal housing refers to the unauthorized residential use of public or private land. In this paper, we study housing supply in markets where informal housing is common. Using a combination of census and satellite data, we estimate housing supply for more than 90 metropolitan areas in Brazil. We find that widespread informal housing increases the housing supply elasticity, partially offsetting the downward pressure of geographical constraints. Our empirical approach is guided by a monocentric city model that includes informal housing. Our identification strategy relies on the use of two novel instruments, combining demographic data and public land ownership.

Marginal Cost of Public Funds under the Presence of Informality

In this paper, we investigate the behavior of the marginal cost of public funds (MCF) for different taxes under the presence of informality. We build a dynamic general equilibrium model with formal and informal sectors and allow the government to use consumption, capital, and labor income taxes to raise revenue. Using country-level data on taxes, we calibrate and measure MCF for a cross-section of economies. Our results show that different taxes have distinct cost responses to changes in the informal sector size in each country: while MCF of the consumption tax decreases with the increase in the informal sector size, the MCF of the income taxes, capital and labor, display an opposite behavior. Moreover, omitting the informal sector results in an underestimation in the MCF of capital income tax and overestimation in that of the consumption tax.

Earnings Inequality and Dynamics in the Presence of Informality: The Case of Brazil

Earnings Inequality and Dynamics in the Presence of Informality: The Case of Brazil

Earnings inequality and dynamics in the presence of informality: The case of Brazil

Using rich administrative and household survey data spanning 34 years from 1985 to 2018, we document a series of new facts on earnings inequality and dynamics in a developing country with a large informal sector: Brazil. Since the mid‐1990s, both inequality and volatility of earnings have declined significantly in Brazil's formal sector. Higher‐order moments of the distribution of earnings changes show cyclical movements in Brazil that are similar to those in developed countries like the US. Relative to the formal sector, the informal sector is associated with a significant earnings penalty and higher earnings volatility for identical workers. Earnings changes of workers who switch from formal to informal (from informal to formal) employment are relatively negative (positive) and large in magnitude, dispersed, negatively (positively) skewed, and less leptokurtic. Our results suggest that informal employment is an imperfect insurance mechanism.

The Humble Charisma of a White-Dressed Man in a Desert Place: Pope Francis' Communicative Style in the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The context of deep uncertainty, fear, and “social distancing” characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a need for cultural anchorages and charismatic leaders who may conjointly and effectively support human beings, strengthen their identity, and empower social commitment. In this perspective, the charismatic leadership of Pope Francis, which is widely shared not only within the religious world, may play a crucial role in facing emergency with existential reasons and psychological resources. The general aim of this work is to shed light on the communicative features of the charismatic leadership of Pope Francis during the pandemic emergency; in order to better understand his effectiveness, we analyzed both the core issues and his multimodal body signals in the global TV event of the Universal Prayer with the Urbi et Orbi Blessing. The multimodal and discursive analyses of the homily enabled us to define the “humble” charisma of the Pope, which is based upon on authentic and informal presence, manifested emotional signals (and, in particular commotion) showing features of equity and familiarity. From a discursive point of view, the common and overarching affiliation is constructed through a multiple focus on the “we” pronoun, which is constructed through socio-epistemic rhetoric. The results show how this integrated methodological perspectives, which is multimodal and discursive, may offer meaningful pathways detection of effective and persuasive signals.

Earnings Inequality and Dynamics in the Presence of Informality: The Case of Brazil

Using a combination of rich administrative and household survey data, we document a series of new facts on earnings inequality and dynamics in a developing country with a large informal sector: Brazil. Since the mid-1990s, both inequality and volatility of earnings have declined significantly in Brazil's formal sector. Higher-order moments of the distribution of earnings innovations show similar cyclical movements in Brazil as in developed countries like the U.S. Earnings mobility is comparatively high, especially at the bottom of the distribution. Compared to the formal sector, earnings are more volatile in the informal sector. Workers who switch between sectors experience earnings innovations that have a positive mean and are positively skewed when moving to the formal sector but have a negative mean and are negatively skewed when moving to the informal sector. A secular shift of employment toward the less volatile formal sector since the early 2000s has contributed to a decline in the economy-wide volatility of earnings.

Trade and Informality in the Presence of Labor Market Frictions and Regulations

We build an equilibrium model of a small open economy with labor market frictions and imperfectly enforced regulations. Heterogeneous firms sort into the formal or informal sector. We estimate the model using data from Brazil, and use counterfactual simulations to understand how trade affects economic outcomes in the presence of informality. We show that: (1) Trade openness unambiguously decreases informality in the tradable sector, but has ambiguous effects on aggregate informality. (2) The productivity gains from trade are understated when the informal sector is omitted. (3) Trade openness results in large gains even when informality is repressed. (4) Repressing informality increases productivity, but at the expense of employment and welfare. (5) The effects of trade on wage inequality are reversed when the informal sector is incorporated in the analysis. (6) The informal sector works as an unemployment, but not a welfare buffer in the event of negative economic shocks.

The heterogeneous effects of labor informality on VAT revenues: Evidence on a developed country

The value-added tax is spread in many countries primarily because it allows rising public revenues, but its revenue performance can be undermined in the presence of informality. We document the existence of heterogeneous effects of labor informality on VAT collection in a developed country such as Italy. By using novel regional administrative data on VAT revenues, we find that labor informality produces negative effects on total VAT collection, including VAT on production and consumption, and positive effects on VAT revenues from consumption only. We also find that the consequences of labor informality on VAT collection depend on the size of informality, by approximating an-inverted U-relation. As for Italy, we explain such heterogeneous effects with the presence of regional differences in labor market conditions. We also document that labor informality has heterogeneous effects on VAT collection when considering specific productive sectors, and the cyclical consequences of the Great Recession.

Merchant Card Acceptance: An Extension of the Tourist Test for Developing Countries

Abstract The paper extends the tourist test proposed by Rochet and Tirole (2011) to the situation of emerging countries which are characterized by informality (tax evasion through cash payments). We introduce a government which faces a cost associated to cash (resources to fight against crime minus seigniorage) and tax evasion in the base model. The main idea is that merchants benefit from tax evasion since they do not provide a receipt in cash transactions and thus pocket a fraction of the VAT. In the presence of informality, the tax benefit of cash reduces the merchants’ net operating benefit of accepting card sales. The tourist test aims to determine a maximum interchange fee (the fee that the acquirer pays to the issuer whenever a card transaction is done) which makes the merchant indifferent between accepting cash or card. In this new environment, the tourist test threshold now internalizes this tax benefit of accepting cash. We assess the socially optimal interchange fees in this new model setup derived from three different social maximization functions.

Modelo estadistico para predecir la prevalencia de desnutrición crónica infantil en los departamentos de Guatemala

Propósito: desarrollar un modelo estadístico predictivo de la prevalencia de desnutrición crónica infantil a nivel departamental en Guatemala.Material y método: se realizó un estudio ecológico, partiendo de 142 variables agrupadas en categorías relacionadas con las dimensiones demográfica, social, económica, política, de salud y de servicios de salud, y utilizando la prevalencia de desnutrición crónica infantil como la variable dependiente. Los datos provienen de las bases de datos oficiales de 2014. Posteriormente, se utilizó un modelo de regresión lineal múltiple para identificar las variables que mejor explican la desnutrición crónica infantil. Resultados: finalmente el modelo se construyó con 9 variables de alta significancia estadística y se obtuvo un R2 de 88% con un resultado significativo (p<0.001). Las variables asociadas con la desnutrición crónica infantil fueron: la pobreza, el ingreso familiar, la educación de la madre, la presencia de informalidad en el empleo, la presencia de diabetes en el hogar, la falta de acceso al agua potable y las bajas inversiones locales en la salud, el bajo per cápita en salud y la falta de acceso a servicios públicos. Conclusiones: los resultados muestran que se necesita incluir en las estrategias de reducción de la desnutrición a todos los miembros de la familia como sujetos de las intervenciones y no solamente a las madres y los niños, y es necesario expandir las acciones hacia el combate a la pobreza, la promoción del empleo formal, el incremento de las inversiones en salud y las inversiones locales, además se debe incrementar el acceso a los servicios públicos.

Money, Inflation, and Unemployment in the Presence of Informality

This paper studies the implications of informality for the long run relationship between inflation, output and unemployment in developing economies. I present a monetary dynamic general equilibrium model with search frictions in both labor and goods markets and where informality is an equilibrium outcome. Policies that lead to a larger informal sector result in an upward shift in both the money demand relation and the Beveridge curve. In contrast, financial development reduces informality and shifts both the Beveridge curve and the money demand relation downwards. An increase in the long run inflation rate affects unemployment through two channels: On the one hand, higher inflation reduces the surplus of monetary trades which lowers firms' profits, job creation and increases unemployment. On the other hand, it shifts firms' hiring decision from high separation and cash intensive informal jobs to low separation formal jobs which reduces unemployment. I calibrate the model to the Brazilian economy and find that the existence of a large informal sector significantly dampens the long run effects of monetary policy on unemployment and output. This result points to the importance of accounting for informality in the conduct of monetary policy in developing economies.

Informal Housing in the United States

AbstractResearch on informal housing tends to focus overwhelmingly on less developed countries, downplaying or ignoring entirely the presence of informality in United States housing markets. In actuality, a longstanding and widespread tradition of informal housing exists in the United States but is typically disregarded by scholars. In this article we draw on three definitions of informality—as non‐compliant, non‐enforced, or deregulated economic activity—to characterize examples of informality in US housing markets, focusing in particular on five institutions that govern housing market activity in this country: property rights law, property transfer law, land‐use and zoning, subdivision regulations, and building codes. The cases presented here challenge the notion that informality is absent from US housing markets and highlight the unique nature of informal housing, US style—namely, that informal housing in the US is geographically uneven, largely hidden and typically interwoven within formal markets. We conclude with a discussion of how research on informal housing in the US can inform research in the global South.

The Presence of Israel in Iraqi Kurdistan and its Security Challenges for Iran’s National Security

<p>This study investigates Israeli presence in Iraqi Kurdistan and its challenges for the Iran’s national security. Although the informal presence of Israel in Iraqi Kurdistan dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, its presence has been more conspicuous, in the recent years, due to the changes in the international political equations, informal collapse and attenuation of social, geographical, and political Iraqi borders, the opportunities arising from 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the weakening of the central power in Iraq. This has exposed the security of the neighboring countries of Iraqi Kurdistan, especially Iran to unprecedented challenges. With this in mind, this paper is conducted to analyze these challenges using the library and archival research methods and following an analytical approach. Based on the findings, it can be said that the Israeli government, mostly driven by its political isolation amid the regional countries, has been trying to create security and political divergences, undermine the regional powers, and support the Iraqi Kurdish independence and secession of the country, which in turn could influence the Iranian Kurds who may be under the effect of federalism in the Iraqi Kurdistan, and enhance the ethnicity movements in Iran, which can also pose a potential security threat for Iran.</p>

O trabalho e a saúde do educador físico em academias: uma contradição no cerne da profissão

O esporte e a atividade física no Brasil estão expandindo em número de participantes e em diversificação de atividades. Nesta expansão se inclui o ramo de academias, no qual o Brasil está em quarto lugar no mercado mundial. Embora o Educador Físico (EF) pudesse ser beneficiado por esta expansão, isto não ocorre. E mesmo sendo destacado como agente promotor de saúde e qualidade de vida, são raras as pesquisas acerca de como a saúde e a qualidade de vida do EF são afetadas pela sua atuação profissional e condições de trabalho. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi trazer à evidência científica aspectos da atuação profissional e condições de trabalho do EF atuante em academias de Brasília (DF), sendo utilizada pesquisa descritiva com questionário semiaberto (n = 53). Verificou-se que o vertiginoso crescimento do ramo de academias, inclusive como lócus de trabalho preferencial dos recém-formados, não corresponde a melhores condições de trabalho para os EFs, haja vista a presença de informalidade, precarização, intensificação e flexibilização do trabalho, conduzindo o EF a trabalhar em diversos empregos [EFs possuem em média dois empregos (54,7%), havendo EFs com quatro empregos (9,4%)], gerando desgastes à sua saúde, caracterizando um contrassenso à essência da profissão. Denota-se condições de trabalho nem sempre favoráveis, mas mascaradas pela realização pessoal advinda da escolha vocacional da profissão. Foi verificada baixa conscientização, mobilização e criticidade dos EFs perante esta realidade, embora alguns tenham indicado o desejo de abandono da profissão. É necessário o estabelecimento de uma nova contratualidade.

Financing Social Policy in the Presence of Informality

We present a framework for the analysis of tax and benefit policy in countries with significant informality. Our framework allows us to jointly analyse the effects of various taxes and benefits on incentives for firms and workers to be informal and evade taxation. We find that payroll taxes and targeted minimum income guarantees targeted to households without formal employment are particularly harmful to labour formality and participation in the modern sector labour force. Conversely, Bismarkian benefits targeted to formal sector workers and basic benefits targeted to low income households represent the least distortionary way to redistribute. Attempts to use holes in the VAT to “protect” the poor are generally ineffective and open the avenues for rent seeking. We also find that a uniform value added tax and a corporate income tax represent the least distortionary way to raise revenues. The information generated from a simple VAT can be used, given the appropriately designed tax administration, to enhance the probability of detection of informal activities. Distributional issues are best handled by social policy measures and the personal income tax. Indeed, given the gainers and losers from tax reforms, social policies and intergovernmental transfers will be needed to ensure the political acceptance of the reforms. The precise mix of taxation and social policy will vary given different country characteristics and institutional

When Formal Organisations Meet Informal Relations in Soviet Lithuania: Action Nets, Networks and Boundary Objects in the Construction of the Lithuanian Sea Museum

This study considers organisation in countries under the Soviet regime. The focus is on the creation of the Sea Museum in Klaipėda from the 1960s to the 1980s, a massive undertaking that required huge capital investments, use of rare foreign materials, cooperation between many different sectors (Soviet military, heritage preservation, seaport management, seagoing fishing vessels and zoos in Eastern bloc countries), and many innovations in designing the local sea aquarium system. The whole project was formally illegal: there was an all-union wide restriction on building so-called ‘spectator venues’. This article analyses the roles of formal and informal relations in the construction of the Sea Museum as a project concerning the public good. It suggests that the presence of informality did not undermine formal organising in the overtly centralised Soviet regime. Belonging to formal organisations was an important resource for actors who constructed action nets that went beyond the boundaries of these organisations. Although it is widely known that the successful functioning of formal organisations often depended on informal relations, this point raises complex questions about the identity and uniqueness of the Soviet system.

Welfare State Developments in the Russian Federation: Oil‐led Social Policy and ‘The Russian Miracle’

Abstract This article investigates the main welfare state developments of the Russian Federation that have occurred since the fall of communism. It argues that the contemporary welfare expansion strictly depends on high oil and gas prices, and that this oil‐led social policy makes the future of the ‘Russian miracle’ highly volatile. The main conclusion is that the Russian welfare state will be able to function properly and to ensure social integration and solidarity only under conditions of sustained oil‐led growth. The article also identifies a variety of different, but equally important, endogenous, as well as exogenous, factors that have influenced the social policy developments in the Russian Federation since 1989. These correspond to the existence of few veto points present in the political arena, the lack of a well‐structured system of interest representation, the presence of informality in the welfare state organization, but also to the presence of national economic vulnerabilities and/or strengths in the now open global economy, as well as to non‐contingent decisions taken in strategic sectors of the state, such as those related to the energy or defence sectors.