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Purpose: The studies that explore the impacts of national intellectual capital on informal economy are scant. Moreover, the effect of an external factor such as institutional quality that moderates this relationship has largely been neglected in previous studies. Institutions are considered important pillars to accumulate national intellectual capital and reduce shadow economy. As such, this paper aims to investigate how institutional quality moderates the effects of national intellectual capital on informal economy in 17 Asian countries from 2000 to 2018. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses the generalized method of moments techniques, which allow cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity in panel data, to examine the moderating role of institutional quality on the relationship between national intellectual capital and informal economy. Various tests are conducted to ensure the robustness of the findings. Findings: Empirical findings from this paper indicate that an increase in national intellectual capital and institutional quality declines the informal economy. Interestingly, better institutional quality aggravates the negative effects of national intellectual capital on reducing the size of informal economy. The author also finds that enhancing international trade and economic growth results in a decrease in the informal economy in Asian countries. Practical implications: Empirical findings offer policymakers an indication of the relationships between national intellectual capital, institutional quality and informal economy, pointing out that national intellectual capital and institutional quality should be strengthened to allow Asian countries to limit the informal economy. Originality/value: This study provides a conceptual model through which the moderating role of institutional quality on the national intellectual capital–informal economy nexus can be recognized. This approach has thus far not been investigated in the existing literature. To the best of the author's knowledge, this study makes an original contribution to the empirical of national intellectual capital and informal economy nexus and produces new insights into the fields of the moderating effects of institutional quality on this nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Street vending as an occupation has been in continuation in India. In the major cities of Tamil Nadu, the large numbers of urban poor live on by working in the informal sector. Street vendors can be called as small capitalist of the poor who are at the margins termed as but are hugely independent and entrepreneurial. Street Vendors are mainly visible section of the informal market. Street vending is an economic reality that works to the advantage of both sellers and consumers, providing productive employment for many and cheap goods and services for the urban poor. Vending as a profession has been carried out all along in known history and it has been an integral part of both rural and urban culture. Poverty and lack of profitable employment in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu and in the minor towns drive large numbers of people to the capital city for work and livelihood. These people in general possess low skills and lack the level of education necessary for the better paid jobs in the organised sector. Besides, permanent secluded jobs in the organized sector are very low in Tamil Nadu; hence even those having the requisite skills are unable to locate proper employment. For these people, hawking/ street vending is one of the resources of earning a livelihood, as it requires smaller financial input and the skills involved are very low and also no entry level obstacles in this job. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of resilience has been recently integrated into the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) approach, as regional economies are pressured to raise their robustness against exogenous and endogenous crises. However, the Global South, particularly Latin American countries, has unique business dynamics and paradoxes due to the informal economy, weak institutions, low level of innovation, yet high level of entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. In this study, we conducted thirty-five semi-structured expert interviews in the capital cities of Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. In doing so, we aim to understand the vision and strategies regarding ecosystem development in those territories, from public and private actors. Furthermore, we apply an evolutionary perspective to identify challenges or barriers to achieving resilient growth, and how to overcome these obstacles. Finally, this study extends the current literature on EE by adding three dynamics for developing resilient EEs; early internationalization strategies, digitalization, and trust-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the determinants of the shadow economy plays a vital role in formulating policies for economic growth and development, particularly for the Southeast Asian countries–a new economic force for a global economy. The key drivers of a shadow economy, such as institutional quality, taxation, government expenditure, are widely examined. However, the effect of national intellectual capital, which affects macroeconomic indicators, on the shadow economy has largely been ignored in the existing literature. Our paper examines this critical link and its causality relationship for eight Southeast Asian countries from 2000 to 2017. This paper uses the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), which allow cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity in panel data analysis. Empirical findings from this paper indicate that national intellectual capital impacts negatively and significantly the shadow economy size. This finding implies that enhancing national intellectual capital reduces the shadow economy size. These two forces lead to enhanced economic growth. Our Granger causality tests confirm a bi-directional relationship between national intellectual capital and the shadow economy. As a result, policies targeted to reduce the shadow economy size can now include the accumulation of national intellectual capital, particularly for Southeast Asian Countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Semestre Económico is the property of Sello Editorial de la Universidad de Medellin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Informal vendors are a critical source of food security for urban residents in African cities. However, the livelihoods of these traders, and the governance constraints they encounter, are not well-understood outside of the region's capital and primate cities. This study focuses on two distinct secondary cities in Nigeria, Calabar in the South-South geopolitical zone of the country and Minna in the Middle Belt region. Interviews were collected with local and state officials in each city on the legal, institutional, and oversight functions they provide within the informal food sector. This was complemented with a survey of approximately 1097 traders across the two cities to assess their demographic profile, contributions to food security, key challenges they face for profitability, engagement with government actors, and degree of access to services in the markets. The analysis highlights two main findings. First, informal traders report less harassment by government actors than has been observed in larger Nigerian cities. At the same time, however, the enabling environment is characterized by benign neglect whereby government-mandated oversight functions are not comprehensively implemented and service delivery gaps remain a major hindrance to food safety. Second, there are important differences in the needs of traders across cities, suggesting that policies focused on food safety and improving the livelihoods of this constituency more broadly need to be properly nuanced even at the subnational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New town building is currently re-emerging in the Third World to decant major metropolitan areas using modernist design and planning assumptions. Using the experience of Africa's postcolonial new capital cities of Abuja (Nigeria), Dodoma (Tanzania), Gaborone (Botswana) and Lilongwe (Malawi), this article analyses the effectiveness of new town building as an urbanisation strategy in Africa and highlights some lessons for new satellite towns in developing countries. Based on extensive analysis of secondary data, plans and empirical studies, the article finds that in addition to their inability to provide adequate housing and infrastructure, these new capital city projects are very expensive and overwhelmed by rapid urbanisation, emphasise physical development, exacerbate social exclusion, disrupt informal settlements and businesses, and lack public involvement. The article concludes by suggesting that new town building in the Global South should learn from the experience of the reviewed cases and focus more on meeting contemporary urban challenges such as rapid urbanisation, informality, social exclusion, poverty and unemployment, urban sustainability, as well as climate and environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]