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This paper investigates digital inequalities in usage within African informal sectors. In particular, we examine whether the uneven digital diffusion is embedded in pre‐existing socio‐economic inequalities. After identifying three segments of informal firms, we rely on multivariate and decomposition analyses to identify predictors of usage of digital technologies for business purposes and explain usage gaps between segments. Our findings suggest that digital inequalities are rooted in the vertical heterogeneity of informal sectors, with some firm characteristics significantly predicting professional use of digital technologies. In addition, we find that there are both common and segment‐specific levers for addressing digital inequalities between informal firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When seeking to increase their tax revenues, policy makers face a likely tradeoff between decreasing personal income tax rates (making formalizing more attractive and potentially contributing to revenue) and alternatively raising tax rates (potentially slowing down the formalization of the economy if people prefer informal employment). Evidence on formal versus informal earnings and job characteristics in different sectors is limited in African countries, and in particular very little is known about the impact of tax changes on the extent of informality. This paper therefore estimates the personal income tax responsiveness of the extensive margin of formality, i.e. the propensity to be a formal as opposed to an informal worker, for Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, using repeated cross-sections of household data and applying grouping estimator techniques. Perhaps because of labour demand constraints and other frictions, the paper finds non-significant relations between the formal employment share and the formal-informal earnings differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a combination of detailed survey data and in-depth interviews with informal workers in the construction, micro-trade, and transport sectors in urban areas of Kenya and Tanzania, this article explores the extent to which informal worker associations facilitate member access to formal social insurance schemes. The article provides unique insight into what characterises informal workers, and the circumstances under which associations may ensure social protection for their members. The analysis shows that members of informal worker associations are significantly more likely to participate in formal insurance schemes compared with non-members, albeit with some variation across location, sector, and worker types. These divergences relate partly to sector-specific and institutional constellations, as well as the ways in which informal worker associations function. Moreover, the article shows that informal worker associations often play a dual role by providing both direct short-term social cushioning and enabling enrolment in formal social insurance schemes. Their part in ensuring the achievement of universal social protection must therefore not be underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research presents the informal economy as a fading phenomenon mainly confined to the peripheries of mainstream economics. However, such views overlook its transformative effect on the social and economic spheres of many regions of the developing world through employment creation. Drawing from a new dataset combining World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Africa Index databases, this study examines the effect of country-level variables (informal economy size, economic and sustainable development) on economic and social change in twenty sub-Saharan African nations. Results reveal that informal work and informal business sustain livelihoods by providing income that helps tackle poverty, malnutrition and mortality rates. This has implications for academic research and policy making because it induces debate on the need to balance economic and social change with policy initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the upsurge of external debt in SSA countries, the effect of external debt on economic growth has captured the attention of empirical studies during the last two decades of the twenty-first century. This study investigated the short- and long-run effect of external debt on the economic growth of 39 SSA countries during the last decade for the periods of 2011–2021. The annual balanced dynamic panel data for the study were sourced from a recognized trustworthy data source, the world development indicator. The result of the study divulged that external debt has a significant negative impact in both the short and long run. Unequivocally, other things remaining constant, a percentage change in total external debt is associated with a 0.034 percent decline in the real GDP of SSA in the short run, while it leads to 0.65 percent shrinkage in the real GDP of SSA in the long run. The study concludes that the negative impact of the long run is greater than that of the short run. The policy implication is that SSA countries should allocate the external debt on the projects that bring other investment opportunities to amortize external debt. Further, the strategies that improve domestic revenue mobilization sources that compliment external debt such as improving informal sectors to broaden tax bases and minimizing domestic revenue leakages need to be established in SSA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub‐Saharan Africa has increased its presence in GVCs but remains the least integrated area in the world. In this paper, we go a step further in the related literature and descend to firm‐level data. Thus, we identify the determinants and effects of GVC participation of manufacturing firms in the region. We use indicators of the extensive and intensive margins of participation and of backward and forward integration. We find that good infrastructure, quality of institutions and security to prevent crime are conducive to participation. In contrast, lack of access to finance, the existence of an informal sector or high trade costs discourage participation. Finally, participation in GVCs has positive effects on firm performance variables (innovation, productivity, wages and employment). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) economies are entrenched in traditional economic and employment structures driven by the informal sector. There is a small and regulated formal sector, built upon public sector employment. Unlike the discussion of gig work in advanced capitalist economies, the development of gig work in SSA is within an environment where employment standards and labour regulations are largely absent. The concern in developed countries is that gig work erodes the norm of regulated employment; in developing economies gig work is part of the norm of informal and unregulated employment. Gig work in SSA offers the potential for formalisation of production and work, new forms of agency, and supporting decent work. However, the challenge is how to realise this potential. The role of platforms in developing and transmitting decent work protocols into gig contracts is discussed as a potential means for supporting decent work in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: There are three puzzling features of sub‐Saharan African tax systems: tax administrations maintain records on vast numbers of small enterprises that actually provide no revenue; they continually invest resources into registering even more of these "unproductive taxpayers"; and discussions about taxing small enterprises are framed by the ambiguous, misleading concept of the "informal sector." Purpose: To make sense of these separate puzzling practices and narratives by exploring the synergies between them, and the broader organizational and political interests that they serve. Methods and approach: There is little statistical or sociological information on the functioning of national tax administrations in sub‐Saharan Africa. The analysis is based on the results of recent research; along with a thorough search for useful data; my own extensive interactions with African tax administrators and relevant international organizations; and a sensitivity to the political dimensions of taxation. Findings The three features of tax systems that are individually puzzling make sense when examined holistically. The continual drive to register more taxpayers provides an unduly favourable impression of the extent of policy and managerial efforts to collect more revenue. The informal sector narrative locates the apparent cause of revenue scarcity in the alleged undertaxation of small enterprises and poorer people, and thus helps divert attention from failures adequately to tax more privileged Africans and larger enterprises. Policy implications: Be very wary of claims that it would be a good idea to invest resources in registering large numbers of new taxpayers in sub‐Saharan Africa. Try to avoid using the term "informal sector" when discussing issues of tax policy and administration—it is confusing and diversionary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper empirically analyses the effect of natural resources rents on the size of informal economy in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). • The estimation procedure include Pooled OLS and GMM System. • The results reveal that natural resources rents increase the size of informal economy in SSA. • These results are robust to several sensitivity analyses. • The positive relationship between natural resource rents and the size of the informal economy becomes negative when good and strong institutions are in place. Despite the extensive literature on the resource curse, little is known about the empirical relationship between natural resource abundance and the size of the informal economy. Theoretical predictions suggest that natural resource abundance contributes to the growth of the informal economy because the investments and expenditures associated with natural resource revenues limit opportunities in the formal sector, thereby channeling more labor and firms into the informal sector. This theory is empirically tested using data from 44 sub-Saharan Africa countries over the period 1991-2015. The main results reveal a positive and significant relationship that natural resource abundance favors the growth of the informal sector in SSA. These results are robust to several tests. Furthermore, the positive relationship between natural resource abundance and the size of the informal economy becomes negative when good and strong institutions are in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour markets in sub‐Saharan Africa are characterized by a gendered division between formal and informal sectors. This article argues that this division originates from a rationality introduced by racist and gendered colonial legal segmentation, produced by a variety of legal regimes in and beyond employment law. Labour market segmentation in postcolonial settings cannot be understood or overcome without analysing the specific colonial institutional origins of the commodification of labour. In sub‐Saharan Africa, the "colonial exploitative legal employment standard" that commodified labour focused on black African male employees for European employers, excluding or marginalizing women and domestic labour relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal sector plays a vital role in providing income opportunities to the unemployed. The sector can create more employment opportunities in this distressed South African economy; however, sustainability concerns do exist. An exploratory research design was used in this qualitative study in order to understand the policy stances towards the informal business sector and the issues that threaten its sustainability. The results indicated that the government's efforts to support informal businesses are not tangible and are not focused on inclusive development. A strategic roadmap that could be used by the government to help the sector sustain itself is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the growing literature on the dynamics and governance challenges of artisanal mining in sub‐Saharan Africa. It examines the artisanal gold mining sector in Liberia and Sierra Leone, two neighboring post‐war countries with extensive informal economies in the gold mining sector. This comparative case study explores factors that help reveal governance struggles, including the informality of the sector, the multiplicity of actors, ineffective monitoring, and gold price differences. It underscores the informality of the sector as a more pronounced problem that offers opportunities for corruption, smuggling of gold, human rights abuses, and exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-third of children globally have blood lead levels (BLLs) exceeding the (former) US CDC reference value of 5 µg/dL; this value may be as high as one-half for children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Lead exposure occurs through a variety of routes (e.g., water, dust, air), and in LMICs specifically, informal economies (e.g., battery recycling) can drive lead exposures due, in part, to absent regulation. Previous work by our team identified a ubiquitous source of lead (Pb), in the form of Pb-containing components used in manually operated pumps, in Toamasina, Madagascar. Characterization of BLLs of children exposed to this drinking water, and identification of additional exposure routes were needed. BLLs were measured for 362 children (aged 6 months to 6 years) in parallel with surveying to assess 14 risk factors related to demographics/socioeconomics, diet, use of pitcher pumps, and parental occupations. BLL data were also compared against a recent meta-review of BLLs for LMICs. Median childhood BLL (7.1 µg/dL) was consistent with those of other Sub-Saharan African LMICs (6.8 µg/dL) and generally higher than LMICs in other continents. Risk factors significantly associated (p < 0.05, univariate logistic regression) with elevated BLL (at ≥ 5 µg/dL) included male gender, living near a railway or major roadway (owing potentially to legacy lead pollution), having lower-cost flooring, daily consumption of foods (beans, vegetables, rice) commonly cooked in recycled aluminum pots (a previously identified lead source for this community), and a maternal occupation (laundry-person) associated with lower socioeconomic status (SES). Findings were similar at the ≥ 10 µg/dL BLL status. Our methods and findings may be appropriate in identifying and reducing lead exposures for children in other urbanizing cities, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where lead exposure routes are complex and varied owing to informal economics and substantial legacy pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate short- and long-term tax buoyancy for 44 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries during 1980–2017 using time series and panel techniques. We find that the long-term tax buoyancy is either one or slightly above one for most SSA countries. Fragile states have a lower short-term tax buoyancy reflecting their institutional weaknesses. Short-term buoyancy of personal income tax is significantly less than one. Both short- and long-run tax responses are lower than those reported in previous cross-country studies, which can be interpreted as a reduced power of both automatic stabilization in the short run and fiscal sustainability in the long run. We find that central government debt and shadow economy exert a downward pressure on tax buoyancy. An important implication of these results is that the current tax systems in SSA would not be able to generate domestic revenues to the extent needed for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: The Sustainable Development Goals targets include decent work for all by 2030 but progress in sub‐Saharan Africa has been slow. Over the past five years, the platform work sector (e‐hailing platforms in particular) has expanded considerably on the continent, providing work opportunities to the growing urban populations. The quality of this work, however, is heavily contested. Purpose: We deepen and extend our understanding of the gig economy in sub‐Saharan Africa and assess its potential for creating decent work. Our unique contribution lies in looking at the gig economy in comparison to the local threshold (the informal economy) as opposed to wage employment. Methods and approach: We first review the literature on the gig economy, the informal sector, and decent work in low‐ and lower‐middle‐income countries. We then draw on a case study of e‐hailing in Lagos, Nigeria, to assess the sector's potential to create decent work. We discuss our findings against the four pillars of the International Labour Organization's Decent Work Agenda: productive employment, labour standards, social protection, and social dialogue. Findings: We find that e‐hailing platforms may offer certain gains compared to regular taxiing in the informal sector but these are context‐ and platform‐specific. Examples include access to insurance, credit, and cash transfers. Gig work remains embedded in the informal economy: it is unregulated and does not abide by labour standards nor offer social protections. We also find evidence of well‐organized labour movements. Policy implications: E‐hailing may be productive work, as platform intermediation facilitates outreach and matching, translating into increased wages. This happens with the added cost of longer working hours in the absence of labour standards. We propose exploring the role of digital records kept by platforms (e.g. income volume and regularity, or customer ratings data) to facilitate the progressive transition of transport workers towards formality. We also recommend fostering industry standards (such as fair work certification) to protect workers' rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of digital platforms in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) has increased job opportunities for informal businesses. However, the technological affordance of digital platforms in SSA has received very little attention in literature review. This paper presents an analytical review of the technological affordances of digital platforms in SSA. We adopted a systematic literature review methodology that entailed gathering evidence from relevant literature and digital platforms in three countries in SSA (South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya). Three research questions focusing on (i) critical issues of discussion on digital platforms in SSA and their distribution; (ii) understanding the technological affordances of digital platforms in SSA; and (iii) assessing the extent to which the technological affordances digital platforms can address the challenges of the informal sector in SSA drove the investigation. The study developed an affordances criteria framework, the first of its kind, to evaluate digital platforms affordances in SSA. Our findings revealed the key topics that have gained researchers' attention so far and digital platforms distribution in SSA. We also found that most digital platforms in SSA currently lack affordances that support multimodal interface and native language contents, limiting their accessibility to persons with minimal digital literacy. Most platforms also lack support for public/private partnerships. The lack of critical affordances that match the profile of the informal sector in SSA makes existing digital platforms incapable of addressing many critical challenges of the informal sector. These challenges include low literacy levels, minimal/lack of government support, lack of electricity or expensive power supply, expensive internet connectivity, and health and safety issues. However, existing digital platforms can reasonably address the absence of social protection, lack of formalization, and poor operational infrastructure. As a contribution, this paper offers a new perspective on the technological affordances of digital platforms in SSA. It also provides insight into the imperatives for designing inclusive and accessible digital platforms for the informal sector in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal economy absorbs a large share (more than 80%) of the labour force in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We examine whether a high level of informality tends to exacerbate the spread of the COVID-19. Using publicly available data for a cross-section of 46 SSA, we find evidence that confirms this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the potential impact of climate change and armed conflict on inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). The system‐GMM for a panel of 35 SSA countries is employed using annual data from 1997 to 2018. The empirical results indicate that armed conflict and climate are major drivers of inequality in SSA. The direct impact of the two determinants is more than the indirect impact. Also, the impact of armed conflict is more than the climate change. The coefficients of population growth, output growth, unemployment, natural rent, exchange rate and inflation rate are significant positive predictors of inequality in the SSA. The study advocates for a multidisciplinary inclusive growth strategy that prioritises the climate change reversal, de‐escalation of armed conflict, population control, reduction of the unemployment rate and increasing informal sector productivity, to promote inclusive growth and reduce inequality. However, sequencing the policy targets relative to the magnitude of their impact on inequality is extremely crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Motivation: The Sustainable Development Goals target decent work for all, including youth, by 2030. In sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), however, a "youth employment crisis" is now central to public and policy discourse. Consequently, the idea of "investing in youth" grows in importance, leading to a proliferation of interventions targeted to and specific to youth. Purpose: This article interrogates the framing of the problem as a "youth employment" crisis. Approach and Methods: The article brings together evidence from a range of sources and disciplines, indicates where the evidence supports the current policy orthodoxy and where it does not, and maps out an alternative framing. Five pillars of the dominant narrative about youth employment are identified: demography, violence and civil unrest, training and skills, rural economy and urban economy. Three critical dimensions of Africa's broader employment crisis are highlighted: economic risk, stability and protection. Findings: The dominant narrative about Africa's youth employment crisis foregrounds young people themselves, and strongly suggests that the crisis is all (and often only) about them. Little about the employment crisis, however, is youth‐specific. The "it's all about the youth" framing ignores that young people are caught up in a broader "missing jobs crisis" that reflects fundamental structural constraints within African economies. In other words, the problem is with the economy, not the young people. Policy implications: The emphasis on youth‐specific targeting and youth‐specific interventions is largely misplaced. Instead of initiatives that only or specifically target youth, priority should be given to broader structural issues which have the potential to deliver better and larger results, for both young people and others. Reframing the problem from a youth employment crisis to a missing jobs crisis is a necessary first step. We provide a counter‐narrative to support this shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, public health measures were implemented globally. Early on, concerns grew that lockdowns and travel restrictions could have severe consequences, especially for marginalized communities in the Global South. In Sub-Saharan Africa, wood charcoal is not only an important cooking fuel, but provides income for many rural households. Despite its economic value, the charcoal sector is, however, largely unregulated and viewed exclusively as an environmentally damaging industry by policy makers and the public who make it responsible for large-scale deforestation. The present study employs a sustainable livelihood framework to assess the ability of charcoal producers in northwestern Kenya, to cope with a short-term shock such as the COVID-19 pandemic and preventive measures. It furthermore compares their access to health information to that of non-producers. A street survey of 139 respondents allowed to gain rapid insights into the realities of a group not accessible via online or telephone surveys. The results show that 87 % of charcoal producers face severe decline of this economic practice because of limited market access. These losses cause them food insecurities, while non-charcoal producers are more worried about social consequences of the restrictions. Though charcoal producers and non-producers feel equally well informed about the pandemic, producers are less likely to access reliable information channels than non-producers, resulting in an uneven distribution of health information across the community. By investigating the response of producers to an external shock and limited market access this study adds to the understanding of local vulnerabilities and the sustainability of rural livelihood strategies. This research argues for inclusive policy response to ensure consideration of the informal sector in crisis response as well as to provide adequate and low-threshold access to health information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between formal and informal businesses continues to grow in African countries. Yet, competition from informal enterprises remains one of the top three obstacles formal businesses face in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper investigates the effect of informal competition on the performance of innovative products introduced by formal firms. We combine the World Bank's Enterprise Survey with the Innovation Follow-up Survey for five sub-Saharan African countries, and construct two indicators of informal competition, one regional (local)-specific and the other one industry-specific. We find that local informal competition has a robust negative effect on product innovation intensity of formal firms, while within industry informal competition enhances innovative sales. However, larger firms are less affected by local informal competition and actually get a boost in innovative sales from informal competition. We argue that local informal competition harms the performance of product innovation, but only for formal firms that lack strategic collaborative 'footholds' in the informal economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant opportunities exist to connect more directly sexuality research to urbanisation research in the global South. This article considers such connections in relation to the informal sector, the state, and urban health. It highlights how such connections can help surface the strategic and pragmatic choices made by same-sex communities in the face of persistent urban challenges in the global South. The article draws on examples from sub-Saharan Africa, a region that exhibits significant sexuality-based discrimination and which has had significant urban research attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the debate on the link between poverty and artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) – low‐tech, labour‐intensive mineral extraction and processing – in sub‐Saharan Africa. It specifically seeks to advance discussion on the idea that throughout the region, the sector's operators are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. Drawing on ongoing research being conducted on marginalised women engaged in ASM in Ghana, an attempt is made to further nuance the "poverty trap‐ASM" narrative. In the context of sub‐Saharan Africa, debates on this issue should focus on the challenges faced by marginalised groups such as women, in particular how their growing dependence on monies earned from the sector for their livelihoods has increased their vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on livelihoods, land access and governance in rural and peri-urban selected areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. Crises are usually expected to be worse for citizens in developing countries since most of their economic activities are in the informal sector, and access to the social protection programs is often limited and exclusionary. Those vulnerable and marginalized are often those who are hit the hardest and who struggle the most to recover after crises. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Extended lockdowns have put livelihoods under stress, underlying patterns of fragile livelihoods and inequality. There are also particular vulnerabilities with regards to land access and livelihoods of vulnerable populations. Our case studies document how the pandemic has affected livelihoods through several mechanisms relating to land access, including distress sales due to economic hardships and exacerbating land conflicts due to increased pressure on land and increasing trends of urban-to-rural migration. We reflect on how households act and react when faced with shocks and how this affects not only their current access to livelihood assets but might undermine their options for the future. In addition, a range of other effects were identified in our case studies that we expect to negatively impact livelihood recovery. • COVID-19 has induced economic hardship, urban-to-rural migration and led to distress land sales. • Informality in the land sector contributes to increase households' vulnerability. • Urban-to-rural migration is restructuring rural social and familial relations. • The increased in distress land sales is indicative of growing patterns of inequality. • COVID-19 has led to diminish many households' resilience capacities to future crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the 4IR has the potential to impact on all industries and all nations, regardless of their location or state of development, many of the discussions of the 4IR and its impact are focused on advanced economies. What are the prospects and constraints of the 4IR to emerging economies in sub-Sahara Africa? To what extent is the 4IR relevant to sub-Sahara Africa where there is a large informal economy, limited public infrastructure, where technical skills levels are low, and advanced technology can be found in only a few sectors that are dominated by foreign multinational companies and staffed by expatriate workers? What is the relevance of policy development towards the 4IR in the region given its young population profile, and emerging skill shortages in key sectors? The paper draws on secondary literature to highlight the challenges and to identify the policy developments that have been developed in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of microcredit on per capita income of farm households in Cameroon. It discusses short- and long-term implications of access to microcredit on income poverty. Design/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed rural households with agriculture being either their first or second income-creating activity. All sampled households are clients of a Cameroonian village bank. The authors used a balanced panel with a treatment and a control group, the latter not having had a village bank microcredit yet. The results were reaffirmed using bootstrapping. Findings: This paper argues that microcredit has had a significant positive impact on per capita income in the short run, but the long-term effect was negative, albeit not significant. In the long run, absolute income poverty had further decreased in the treatment group, however, not as much as in the control group. Because the treatment group had been shifting back to the informal financial sector and had diverted part of the microcredit for consumption, this may have led to lower marginal income effects. Productivity of credit financed inputs by the treatment group remained constant, which also explains why the treatment group fell back over time. Research limitations/implications: The balanced panel data set was relatively small due to attrition over time. This was accounted for using bootstrapping. Nevertheless, research results must be interpreted with care. Furthermore, the discussion is not exhaustive. Practical implications: Despite tremendous methodological advancements regarding the impact analysis of microcredit on income poverty, findings remain controversial and inconsistent. Frequently, fungibility is a confounding issue. Microcredit policy ought to consider more long-term effects. Originality/value: There is much discourse amongst development economists about the impact of microcredit on poverty. Research based on panel data may clarify some of the controversial issues. This research paper uses a rather unique panel data set from Cameroonian farm households that are clients of a private sector village bank. The issue of sample size limitation is dealt with using bootstrapping. The authors base the empirical analysis on a comprehensive and theoretically founded economic farm household model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we attempt to estimate the tax gap in the informal sector as well as the contributing factors of the tax losses in SSA countries using Ghana as a case study. Using micro data on non‐farm household enterprises obtained from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey as well as data on quarterly tax payable by specified small scale enterprises derived from the Small Tax Payer office of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the findings show that the national potential and actual taxes in the informal sector are US$ 81 974 846 and US$ 25 023 273, respectively, reflecting an estimated national tax gap or loss of approximately US$ 56 951 573. Firm level variables such as type of business, urban location and experience of the firm significantly increase the propensity to pay tax and reduce the tax gap. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the debate on the formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing – in developing countries. A unique sector populated by an eclectic group of individuals, ASM has expanded rapidly in all corners of the world in recent years. Most of its activities, however, are informal, scattered across lands which are not officially titled. But growing recognition of the sector's economic importance, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, has forced donors, and to some extent, policymakers, to ‘rethink’ development strategies for ASM. As part of broader moves to improve the regulation of, and occasionally intensify the delivery of assistance to, the sector, many are now searching frantically for fresh ideas on how to bring operations into the legal domain, where, it is believed, they can be regulated, monitored and supported more effectively. A challenging exercise, this entails first determining, with some degree of precision, why people choose to operate informally in this sector. Drawing on analysis from the literature and findings from research conducted in Ghana and Niger, it is argued that the legalist school (on informality) in part explains how governments across sub-Saharan Africa are ‘creating’ bureaucracies which are stifling the formalization of ASM activities in the region. A more nuanced development strategy grounded in local realities is needed if formalization is to have a transformative effect on the livelihoods of those engaged in ASM in the region and elsewhere in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the prevalence and patterns of non-farm enterprises in six sub-Saharan African countries, and study their performance in terms of labor productivity, survival and exit, using the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). Rural households operate enterprises due to both push and pull factors and tend to do so predominantly in easy-to-enter activities, such as sales and trade, rather than in activities that require higher starting costs, such as transport services, or educational investment, such as professional services. Labor productivity differs widely: rural and female-headed enterprises, those located further away from population centers, and businesses that operate intermittently have lower levels of labor productivity compared to urban and male-owned enterprises, or enterprises that operate throughout the year. Finally, rural enterprises exit the market primarily due to a lack of profitability or finance, and due to idiosyncratic shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an economic manifestation of informality the activity of street trading is widespread across many countries of the global South. In particular, cities of sub-Saharan Africa are characterised by the growth of informality. In South Africa the activity of street trading is one of the most significant and yet most problematic policy concerns that must be addressed by local governments. The objective is to unravel and chart the ambiguous and changing policy pathways that have impacted upon street traders in inner-city Johannesburg with a focus mainly upon the period post-2000. It is argued that a disconnect occurs between the rhetoric of progressive development policy frameworks and often of repressive restrictive implementation practices. In addition, it is shown that there is no necessary alignment of local urban policy with national policies towards the informal economy. The analysis represents a contribution towards international policy debates and scholarship about street trading, local economic development and the informal economy in cities of the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should policy-makers, including foreign donors, focus employment strategies in sub-Saharan Africa on strengthening access to formal wage employment or on raising productivity in the informal sector? We examine the evidence in Mozambique and show that crude distinctions between formality and informality are not illuminating. The observed welfare advantage of formal sector workers essentially derives from differences in endowments and local conditions. Non-agricultural informal work can yield higher returns than formal work. The implication is that the informal sector must not be marginalized; and raising productivity in agriculture must be accorded a central place in boosting employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As considerable numbers of people in emergent world tourism regions engage in independent business travel, meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions tourism or practices of informal business tourism the theme of business mobilities merits greater attention in the evolving tourism scholarship of these regions. This article interrogates existing scholarship and research issues pertaining to understanding evolving tourism mobilities specifically in the emerging tourism region of sub-Saharan Africa, where, arguably, more than in any other region of the global tourism economy, the topic of business mobilities merits high priority attention. For sub-Saharan Africa as a whole a growing weight of evidence suggests that business tourism flows – domestic and intraregional – account for a larger share of tourism movements than leisure tourism. In interpreting the complex flows of business mobilities in the African continent it is necessary to go beyond dominant Northern conceptions of what constitutes a business tourist and in particular to understand the activities of the informal-sector business tourist. A useful start point for unpacking business tourism mobilities is to differentiate and apply a typology of international formal-sector tourism, international informal-sector tourism, domestic formal-sector tourism and domestic informal-sector tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores shifting perspectives on African clandestine economies. Previously condemned as products of clientelism and corruption, clandestine economies are attracting renewed interest for their developmental potential in weak state contexts. Focusing on systems of illicit cross-border trade in East and West Africa, this article shows that more favourable views of clandestine trading activities are driven more by their compatibility with liberal reform agendas than by their positive contribution to local development. Indeed, the optimistic turn in perspectives on illicit African trade glosses over its increasingly negative impact on local security and development. While discourses of violence and criminalization were used to characterize the largely peaceful cross-border trading systems in West Africa in the 1990s, new discourses of hybrid governance and state building are used to frame the more violent and socially disruptive cross-border trading complexes of East Africa in the 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Public sector strategies to promote insecticide-treated net (ITN) access have resulted in increased ITN ownership across sub-Saharan Africa. However, the current status of the private sector distribution channel for nets has not been fully explored. This multi-country study explored the prevalence of net purchases and the characteristics of households that had purchased nets and used such nets in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: Data from recent Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) or Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in 16 countries were analysed to explore the prevalence of purchased nets. Purchased nets were defined as nets obtained from shops/markets or pharmacies. Additional sub-analysis of factors associated with ownership and use of purchased nets was conducted in seven countries with over 10% of nets reported as purchased. Key outcomes included: prevalence of purchased nets out of all nets, household ownership of a purchased net, and whether a purchased net was used the previous night. Analytical methods included country level tests of association and multivariable logistic regressions. Results: Among all nets, the proportion of purchased nets in the study countries ranged from 0.8 to 32.7% and most (median = 77%) of these purchased nets were ITNs. Although the private nets are presumed to be from the retail, non-public sector, the prevalence of treated purchased nets suggests that some purchased nets may be "leaked" ITNs from public sector distributions, and thus, may be an informal sector rather than part of the formal "private sector". Urban, wealthier households as well as those with educated heads were more likely to own purchased nets. Use of such nets was, however, lower in wealthier households. In addition, net use was higher in households owning insufficient nets for their family size, and when the nets were newer than 24 months. Conclusion: The formal and informal private sector have played a role in bolstering net access rates in some settings. Study findings can help relevant malaria control stakeholders gain insight on the contribution of purchased nets on their overall ITN strategy, identify potential target populations for private sector nets as well as inform the design and distribution of private sector insecticide-treated nets that appeal to their target groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]