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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had large negative effects on countries' economies and individual well-being throughout the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Pandemic-related changes in behavior and government restrictions in Kenya may have negatively affected food supply chains and household food access; however, the empirical evidence is currently limited. Objectives: The study explored changes in informal milk markets, dairy consumption, and food insecurity among low-income households in urban and periurban Nairobi, Kenya, following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Methods: Baseline data on milk sales and consumption were collected in late 2019 from dairy vendors operating in the informal sector and their dairy customers. We conducted 2 longitudinal telephone surveys with the same study participants in July and September--October 2020, respectively. Results: At the first follow-up, the volume of milk sold by informal vendors had dropped by 30% compared with their baseline level, and the volume of milk from informal markets consumed by households decreased by 23%. By the second follow-up, the volume of milk sold and consumed had recovered somewhat but remained lower than the volume observed 1 y prior in the same season. Large reductions in the consumption of other animal--sourced products were also observed. The rate of food insecurity increased by 16 and 11 percentage points in the first and second follow-up periods, respectively, compared with baseline. Conclusions: The evidence, therefore, suggests that the timing of the pandemic and the related restrictions were associated with a decrease in the supply and consumption of milk from informal markets in Nairobi and a decrease in the food security of periurban consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety net programs, common in settings with high informality like Latin America, often use a means test to establish eligibility. We ask: in settings in which organised crime provides lucrative opportunities in the informal market, will discouraging formal employment via benefits eligibility criteria increase criminal enterprise activity? We link administrative socioeconomic microdata with the universe of arrests in Medellín over a decade, and exploit exogenous variation in formal-sector employment around a socioeconomic-score cutoff, below which individuals receive generous benefits if not formally employed. Regression discontinuity estimates confirm this policy reduced formal-sector employment and generated a corresponding increase in arrests associated with organised crime. We do not find increases for crimes unlikely to be associated with organised entities, such as crimes of impulse or opportunity. Effects on arrests are strongest in neighbourhoods where organised crime is most prevalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we build an equilibrium search and matching model of an economy with an informal sector. Our model extends Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) by allowing for ex ante worker heterogeneity with respect to formal-sector productivity. We use the model to analyse the effects of labour market policy on informal-sector and formal-sector output, on the division of the workforce into unemployment, informal-sector employment and formal-sector employment, and on wages. Finally, we examine the distributional implications of labour market policy; specifically, we analyse how labour market policy affects the distributions of wages and productivities across formal-sector matches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal work is a significant feature of labour markets in many developed countries, despite having unemployment protection (UP) programmes. We use a model of job search over the duration of unemployment to study how the structure of these programmes influences the incentive of the unemployed to engage in informal work while searching for formal jobs. Accounting for informality enables the model to jointly explain three known features on job search dynamics: a temporary re-employment spike, low search effort, and negative duration dependence. The quantitative analysis finds that both informality and unemployment can be reduced by redistributing (across either workers or programmes), rather than increasing, the overall UP budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A basic hypothesis of probabilistic migration models is that informal sector employment is a temporary staging post for new migrants on their way to formal sector employment. In this paper we argue that there are no conclusive tests of this hypothesis in the empirical migration literature, and examine evidence from a sample survey to test if the informal sector in Delhi performs the role postulated in probabilistic models. We also test some of the main hypotheses of the segmented labour market theory, a popular alternative to neo-classical theory for analyzing the structure of urban labour market in developing countries. The empirical evidence indicates that the migration process postulated in probabilistic models does not seem to be realistic in the case of Delhi, and that the segmentation model is only partially valid. Over one-half of the informal sector entrants had been attracted to Delhi by opportunities in this sector itself; actual and potential mobility from the informal to the formal sector was low; education and urban experience were rewarded at the same rate in both sectors; and education was one of the important determinants of mobility between sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing significance of non-compliant employment practice in the British economy has motivated scrutiny of the effectiveness of current regulation. In some markets, charges of labour exploitation, underpayment of the national minimum wage and associated 'wage theft' from workers are rife where business operations are characterised by academics, regulators and stakeholders as exuding 'permissive visibility'. The current landscape of enforcement and regulation of informal business and employment practices features complex structural and operational issues for regulators subject to tight resource constraints. These enable permissiveness and offer scope for strategic regulatory tolerance of some violation types, possibly to raise compliance rates for other types of violations. Drawing on extensive empirical evidence and qualitative data sources in one market sector (hand car washes), this study investigates some key hypotheses focussing on compliance and responses by businesses and regulators to the extant regulatory regime. These inform a pragmatic institutional analysis considering the merits of some movement towards a single enforcement body instead of the existing arrangements featuring multiple regulatory institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the labour market effects and redistributive consequences among natives of the arrival of the Syrian refugees in Turkey. For that, we use the quantitative spatial model developed in Loayza et al. (2021) , in which low- and high-skill workers can choose where to live/work and firms within each region can choose to operate in the formal or informal sectors and, if formal, whether to hire their workers formally or not. We use the estimated model to quantify the effects of the 'refugee shock' on informality, wages, profits, and tax revenues across regions and the country as a whole. We show that informality increases among low-skill but decreases among high-skill workers and the skill premium increases. Wages of low-skill workers decline substantially in the most affected regions, but tax revenues and profits per worker increase. Redistributing tax revenues can substantially reduce low-skill workers' losses in most affected areas. In addition, redistributing profits can completely revert both low- and high-skill workers' losses, even in the most affected regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the Venezuelan crisis, Colombian migrants are returning to their place of birth. Since 2016, however, there has been a spike of immigration to Colombia attributable to inflows of the Venezuelan-born. Using high-frequency administrative data, we estimate the impacts of the recent labour supply shock–driven by the economic predicament in Venezuela–on the labour and poverty outcomes of native Colombians. We employ an instrumental variables approach to account for the selection of immigrants into locations with more or less desirable conditions. A 1 percentage point increase in immigration from Venezuela reduces informal sector wages by 10 percentage points in urban areas. As the crisis increased the fraction of migrants by 0.2 percentage points in 2017, we estimate urban wages decreased by a total of 2 percentage points. A dual-pronged approach is warranted to promote the economic assimilation of Venezuelans while protecting the job security of Colombians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External conditions have historically influenced economic outcomes and have also impacted political institutions in developing countries. Focusing on these changes, this article develops a theoretical model of political conflict and democratic stability in a small open developing economy, using as the basis a structuralist macroeconomic model. In this model, political institutions are given in the medium run but vary in the long run as a result of political conflict between capitalists, formal workers, and informal workers excluded from the benefits of social protection. The model suggests that a democratic breakdown is more likely the larger the informal sector, the lower the structural competitiveness of the economy, and the weaker the country's democratic tradition. The model also links the possibility of coups and democratization process with external shocks. Based mainly on the Latin American experience in democratic and dictatorial regimes, the article claims that combining industrial and technological policies—which ease the Balance-of-Payments constraint—with the building of a comprehensive system of social protection is key for the consolidation and stability of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the criminal regulation of misoprostol as a controlled drug in Brazil as a new form of abortion criminalization. A qualitative analysis of Brazilian case law shows how the courts use a public health rhetoric of unsafe abortion to criminalize the distribution of misoprostol in the informal sector. Rather than an invention of the local bench, this judicial rhetoric reflects global public health discourse and policy on unsafe abortion and the double life of misoprostol as both an essential medicine and a controlled drug. In contrast to previous studies, the article shows that abortion criminalization is not the cause, but rather the consequence of misoprostol's double life. In the last section, it draws on an outlier judgment of the case law to chart a regulatory future for misoprostol and its supply in the informal sector as a site of harm reduction and safe abortion in public health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large and growing literature has associated gender equality with better macroeconomic outcomes. However, understanding the channels through which gender equality impacts the economy requires a deeper dive in the main constraints within an economy. Using theoretical and empirical evidence, we explore how gender equality in education feeds into higher human capital levels and thus better macroeconomic outcomes. We also analyse the impact of inequities in the labour market, focusing also on the role of the informal sector. Finally, we provide an overview on policy options to address various gender gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Bangladesh, there is a lack of knowledge about the large body of informal sector practitioners, who are the major providers of health care to the poor, especially in rural areas, knowledge which is essential for designing a need-based, pro-poor health system. This paper addresses this gap by presenting descriptive data on their professional background including knowledge and practices on common illnesses and conditions from a nationwide, population-based health-care provider survey undertaken in 2007. The traditional healers (43%), traditional birth attendants (TBAs, 22%), and unqualified allopathic providers (village doctors and drug sellers, 16%) emerged as major providers in the health care scenario of Bangladesh. Community health workers (CHWs) comprised about 7% of the providers. The TBAs/traditional healers had <5 years of schooling on average compared with 10 years for the others. The TBAs/traditional healers were professionally more experienced (average 18 years) than the unqualified allopaths (average 12 years) and CHWs (average 8 years). Their main routes of entry into the profession were apprenticeship and inheritance (traditional healers, TBAs, drug sellers), and short training (village doctors) of few weeks to a few months from semi-formal, unregulated private institutions. Their professional knowledge base was not at a level necessary for providing basic curative services with minimum acceptable quality of care. The CHWs trained by the NGOs (46%) were relatively better in the rational use of drugs (e.g. use of antibiotics) than the unqualified allopathic providers. It is essential that the public sector, instead of ignoring, recognize the importance of the informal providers for the health care of the poor. Consequently, their capacity should be developed through training, supportive supervision and regulatory measures so as to accommodate them in the mainstream health system until constraints on the supply of qualified and motivated health care providers into the system can be alleviated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The informal sector is often seen as a way for firms to evade regulation. In this paper, I therefore investigate the role of the informal sector in the impact of trade liberalization on employment, wage inequality and welfare in a model of trade with heterogeneous firms and endogenous wage dispersion. The findings suggest that trade liberalization reduces informal employment unambiguously. Contrary to the extant literature, however, its impact on total salaried employment, wage inequality and welfare is country-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses corporate-led jobless growth propelled by development-induced displacement caused by land acquisition by the State. It shows as its inevitable outcome an expanding informal sector which encroaches upon land-related natural resources allocated to the corporate sector. This reduces the latter's labour productivity and competitiveness along with negative impact on environment and social cohesion. Using the example of India as a multiparty democracy, the paper points to the emergence of a dangerous developmental politics of mutualism between political parties and corporations over land acquisition, which subverts the very democratic process through which political power is wielded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze a unique episode in the history of monetary economics, the 2016 Indian "demonetization." This policy made 86% of cash in circulation illegal tender overnight, with new notes gradually introduced over the next several months. We present a model of demonetization where agents hold cash both to satisfy a cash-in-advance constraint and for tax evasion purposes. We test the predictions of the model in the cross-section of Indian districts using several novel data sets including: the geographic distribution of demonetized and new notes for causal inference; night light activity and employment surveys to measure economic activity including in the informal sector; debit/credit cards and e-wallet transactions data; and banking data on deposit and credit growth. Districts experiencing more severe demonetization had relative reductions in economic activity, faster adoption of alternative payment technologies, and lower bank credit growth. The cross-sectional responses cumulate to a contraction in aggregate employment and night lights–based output due to the the cash shortage of at least 2 percentage points and of bank credit of 2 percentage points in 2016Q4 relative to their counterfactual paths, effects that dissipate over the next few months. Our analysis rejects monetary nonneutrality using a large-scale natural experiment, something that is still rare in the vast literature on the effects of monetary policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal employment is a pervasive and persistent feature of most developing and developed economies. Labour taxation and labour market regulations are deemed two major causes for operating in the informal sector. Using data from France, Italy, and Spain, we analyse gross job flows and gross worker flows in the formal and informal sectors in the presence of lenient employment protection legislation, and investigate the way traditional policy interventions may favour transitions from one sector to the other. We show that optimal outcomes in terms of reduction and formalisation of informal jobs across the three countries examined are achieved with the combination of lower payroll taxes for permanent contracts and higher inspection rate for firms operating in the informal sector. Coupling lower firing costs with more frequent labour inspections also reduces informality, but this comes at the cost of an increased ratio of temporary to total employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Agate workers in Khambhat, India and their community members are exposed to high levels of silica dust and related diseases. Use of effective prevention practices remains low, prompting the need for effective interventions which increase the uptake of and investment in prevention practices. We sought: (a) to describe knowledge, self‐efficacy, and practices among a population of workers, their family members, and neighbors involved in or located close to agate processing; and (b) to explore which factors are related to use of prevention practices and willingness to invest in new dust control technologies. Methods: A community survey was conducted to measure demographics, occupation and financial factors, knowledge, prevention practices, barriers, risk perceptions, and efficacy beliefs. Descriptive statistics were used and, among agate workers, hierarchical logistic regression explored predictors of prevention practice use and willingness to invest. Results: Among 1120 respondents, approximately 44%, 35%, and 8% of workers, family members, and neighbors used prevention practices, respectively. Knowledge and risk perceptions were generally high, where efficacy beliefs were low. Workers who had high levels of education, worked at home, and had high efficacy beliefs were more likely to report using prevention practices and being willing to invest. Barriers to prevention practice use included financial barriers, and beliefs that prevention is ineffective and health is not at risk. Conclusions: Interventions and future research should be designed to engage the community to improve preventive behavior, and implement affordable and effective dust control interventions in the agate industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Mexican immigrants in the U.S. who do suburban maintenance gardening. An examination of the social organization of those Latino immigrant workers who do such work is given. An analysis is presented as to what degree of socioeconomic mobility immigrant maintenance gardeners are achieving in Los Angeles, California. Topics include the occupational structure of this informal job sector and the mixture of formal and informal economic transactions involved with the indicated gardening community.

We develop a search-theoretic model of contractual dualism in formal and informal labour markets. The model (i) provides the micro-underpinnings for endogenous determination of employer market power in the formal and informal sectors, (ii) offers a unified and coherent set-up whereby a host of salient features of developing country labour markets can be explained together and (iii) places for the first time the Stiglerian prescription of the optimal (unemployment minimising) minimum wage in the broader context of labour markets where formal job creation is costly, where employer market power is endogenous and where formal employment, informal employment and unemployment coexist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Tanzania, the health financing system is extremely fragmented with strategies in place to supplement funds provided from the central level. One of these strategies is the Community Health Fund (CHF), a voluntary health insurance scheme for the informal rural sector. As its implementation has been challenging, we investigated different CHF implementation practices and how these practices and the wider health financing context affect CHF implementation and potentially enrolment. Two councils were purposively selected for this study. Routine data relevant for understanding CHF implementation in the wider health financing context were collected at council and public health facility level. Additionally, an economic costing approach was used to estimate CHF administration cost and analyse its financing sources. Our results showed the importance of considering different CHF implementation practices and the wider health financing context when looking at CHF performance. Exemption policies and healthcare-seeking behaviour influenced negatively the maximum potential enrolment rate of the voluntary CHF scheme. Higher revenues from user fees, user fee policies and fund pooling mechanisms might have furthermore set incentives for care providers to prioritize user fees over CHF revenues. Costing results clearly pointed out the lack of financial sustainability of the CHF. The financial analysis however also showed that thanks to significant contributions from other health financing mechanisms to CHF administration, the CHF could be left with more than 70% of its revenues for financing services. To make the CHF work, major improvements in CHF implementation practices would be needed, but given the wider health financing context and healthcare-seeking behaviours, it is questionable whether such improvements are feasible, scalable and value for money. Thus, our results call for a reconsideration of approaches taken to address the challenges in health financing and demonstrate that the CHF cannot be looked at as a stand-alone system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I find through analyses of across-state, across-industry-over-state and pooled data (involving state and time) on the Indian economy that the behaviour of the urban informal/unorganised sector is explained by the modern formal/organised sector besides petty agriculture, but the vast rural informal sector is like ‘surplus population’, associated only with petty agriculture. I also show there could be interactions between the formal sector and modern agriculture. These empirical relations are analysed and theoretical departures from the literature are identified. I propose using a Structuralist-Kaleckian framework: with accumulation in the formal sector a large part of petty agriculture is modernised or converted to suit the needs of accumulation, and thereby we have a long-run drain of resources from petty agriculture and hence from informal sectors as well. However, even under such a resource drain, the urban informal sector may sustain or expand due to productivity advantages and due to pull from the formal sector, at the cost of its rural counterpart. In the short run when the formal sector and hence the urban informal sector expand or when the government promotes the urban or ‘productive’ part of informal economy, a basic conflict between urban and rural informal sectors is exposed, given the generic agricultural supply constraint. Thus, the paradigms of ‘inclusive growth’ and ‘development management’ are questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background Workers in informal small-scale industries (SSI) in developing countries involved in welding, spray painting, woodwork and metalwork are exposed to various hazards with consequent risk to health.Aim To assess occupational exposure and health problems in SSI in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Methods Focused group discussions (FGD) were conducted among SSI workers. Participants were assessed for exposure to occupational and environmental hazards, the use of protective equipment and health complaints by interview. The findings were discussed with participants and potential interventions identified.Results Three hundred and ten workers were interviewed (response rate 98%). There was a high level (>90%) of self-reported exposure to either dust, fumes, noise or sunlight in certain occupational groups. There was low reported use of personal protective equipment. There was a high level of self-reported occupational health problems, particularly amongst welders and metalworkers. Workers reported their needs as permanent workplaces, information on work related hazards, water and sanitation, and legislation for SSI.Conclusions In SSI in Tanzania, our study suggests that workers have high levels of exposure to multiple health hazards and that use of protective equipment is poor. This group of workers warrants improved occupational health and safety provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moving beyond the simple comparisons of averages typical of most analyses of household income shocks, this article employs quantile analysis to generate a complete distribution of such shocks by type of household during the 1995 crisis in Mexico. It compares the distributions across normal and crisis periods to see whether observed differences were due to the crisis or are intrinsic to the household types. Alternatively, it asks whether the distribution of shocks during normal periods was a reasonable predictor of vulnerability to income shocks during crises. It finds large differences in the distribution of shocks by household types both before and during the crisis but little change in their relative positions during the crisis. The impact appears to have been spread fairly evenly. Households headed by people with less education (poor), single mothers, or people working in the informal sector do not appear to experience disproportionate income drops either in normal times or during crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development in sub-Saharan Africa under structural adjustment witnessed the upsurge of informal sector development—the development of unregulated labour-intensive activities, in part export-oriented. This paper argues that two factors played an important role in shaping the dynamics of informal sector development: (1) the process of the relative cheapening of wage goods as a result of their importation, partly financed through foreign aid, thereby lowering unit-labour costs in labour-intensive production, and (2) the processes at work of subsidising real wages by other forms of economic security as a result of multiple, diversified and spatially extended livelihood strategies. While these factors undoubtedly brought a new vitality to economic development, this paper questions the long-run sustainability of this new trend for two reasons. One is its dependence on foreign aid to finance imports. The other is that it does not appear to propel endogenous increases in productivity by achieving greater synergy in intersectoral linkages between agriculture and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trading relations in Vietnam's emerging private sector are shaped by two market frictions: the difficulty of locating trading partners and the absence of legal enforcement of contracts. Examining relational contracting, we find that a firm trusts its customer enough to offer credit when the customer finds it hard to locate an alternative supplier. A longer duration of trading relationship is associated with larger credit, as is prior information gathering. Customers identified through business networks receive more credit. These network effects are enduring, suggesting that networks are used to sanction defaulting customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argues that the use of `measurement without theory' principle is a fair description of published empirical work on estimating the size of the hidden economy. Limitation of value to the policymaker; Awareness of the political dimensions; Indication of an overtaxed and overregulated economy.

Comments that the underground economy deserves attention and study due to its phenomenal implications. Explanation of origin; Analysis of impact on the official economy; Usefulness of reliable estimates to policymakers.

Presents a brief description of a method for estimating the hidden economy. Appraisal of the applicability and limitations of the method; Importance of the hidden economy on economic theory; Relevance in econometric modelling and government policy formulation.

The article looks at the experiences of Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. low-wage labor market, with an emphasis on immigrants in Durham, North Carolina. Particular focus is given to employment conditions common among immigrant populations such as subcontracting and informal employment. Details on wages, employment stability, fringe benefits, and documentation are also presented. According to the author, human capital assets such as education and English language ability predicted immigrants' wages but did not affect employment stability or benefit provision. It is suggested that nonstandard work arrangements significantly impacted immigrants' economic well-being. Immigrants' participation in the food service industry and the construction industry are also discussed.

This article presents a transnational analysis of work-family relations. Comparing three high-tech firms in India and the United States, we find that employees in cacti country establish different work-family boundaries. While those in the United States tend to prefer an integration of work and family realms through permeable boundaries, employees in india more often support a separation between work and family spheres through solid boundaries. Our analysis employs a "contextual" view of boundary formation. We argue that work-family relations observed in these U.S. and Indian firms reflect two important factors: 1) varying social contracts between workers, the state, and the private sector, which provide different types of support for families; and 2) varying trends in the persistence or reversal of historical, societal work-family divisions, which create pressures and opportunities either to insulate the household from the workplace, or to merge them together. In contrast to prevailing cultural explanations in the work-family literature that focus on culture or development, we argue for an approach that incorporates global power and inequality. We conclude by discussing implications for transnational debates about work-family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the use of econometric techniques to measure the size of the hidden economy. Importance of the information for economic models and for empirical policy analysis; Effect of the hidden economy's growth in the actual or perceived tax burden; Association between underground economic activity and the degree of regulation.

Discusses approaches for estimating a hidden economy's amount of noncompliance with tax laws and regulations in the United States. Data collection for a subsample of the population; Detection of controlled estimation; Comparison of estimates generated by databases and models.

This article examines the sources of support for services for the homeless. It delineates the extensive role of the private sector in both funding and actually delivering shelter, meal, and other services for the homeless. It also indicates the extent to which certain states are providing financial support for homeless services, and the relation of new federal efforts through programs funded by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to state and private activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a reply to the measurement of the growth of the non-market sector and its influence on the economy of Great Britain. It points out crucial theoretical assumptions on Britain's economy which need to be answered and interpreted. First, it claims that the growth of the non-market sector is important to the economy of the country. Second, it argues that the trend of market sector investment and net exports was significantly downwards once allowance is made for capital consumption and housebuilding is not part of the capital stock which provides employment. Finally, it must be established that there are plausible assumptions which point to the strong possibility of a general connection between the growth of the share of the non-market sector and a squeeze on net imports and employment creating investment.

This article examines Great Britain's economic problems and the growth of the public sector, specifically, the non-market sector of the economy. The economy is divided into productive and non-productive sectors bypassing the complex theoretical problems involved. But both this division and the division into tradable and non-tradable sectors are rejected in favor of the distinction between a market and non-market sector. It is argued that the growth of the non-market sector is responsible for Britain's problems. Three propositions on the increase in the non-market sector are discussed. First, the increasing taxation required for a rising ratio of non-market output has caused net-of-tax profits to be falling. Second, falling of net-of-tax profits have led to falling investment and thus to a lower rate of growth and balance of payments difficulties. Lastly, the worker's refusal to bear any of the taxation burdens has meant that wage inflation accelerated, unemployment rose and income policies had to be made increasingly strict.

The principle objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between industrial research and development and the demands for employment and capital by private sector producers. Intuitively, the relation between industrial research and development and factor demand decisions is quite direct. A successful research and development project produces a process innovation, a product innovation or some new way of doing things. Whatever the successful outcome, the implementation of these new techniques in the plant involves decisions about investment, employment and capacity utilisation. These factor demand decisions may also influence the level and direction of future research and development activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model of the black market for dollars focuses on the interaction of portfolio decisions relevant to the holding of asset stocks and the determinants of net flows of dollars associated with tourism and smuggling. A partial-equilibrium model of the black market shows that the level of the premium is determined by the official real exchange rate and the official, depreciation-adjusted interest differential, as well as seasonal factors associated with tourism. Expectations of future exchange rate changes, under rational expectations, are shown to affect the current level of the black market premium. The empirical evidence provides ample support for the role of the key determinants of the premium as well as for an important seasonal pattern. The magnitude of the seasonal variation is evidence of the imperfect substitutability between black dollars and cruzeiro assets in portfolios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the theory of economic development in relation to underdeveloped countries from the view of economist Joseph Schumpeter. It presents the role of government in an underdeveloped country and the problem of financing innovations in underdeveloped countries. Schumpeter's theory is one of the very few theories, which aim at systematically explaining the process of economic development. Since the theory is exciting, widely known, and the major contribution of a great economist, it is inevitable that attempts have been made in the recent years to apply it to the case of present-day underdeveloped countries. It has been argued by many economists that the role of government in an underdeveloped country becomes essential either because the private sector has not the strength or lacks the willingness to enter certain activities or the private sector is willing to enter but sufficient ground has not been prepared for it to enter. It is this second reason which strongly suggests that, insofar as the public sector aims at providing basic facilities, it should be considered as enhancing the bourgeois interest.

Investigates the intra-household impact of an expansion in employment opportunities for women in a dual labor market. Use of the Harris-Todaro framework variant; Determination of labor allocation decisions; Distribution of household consumption; Bargaining power of women inside the household; Function of the informal sector labor market.

Discusses the controversy of the methods for estimating the hidden aspects of an economy. Interest of the media and politicians focusing on the issue of crime and tax evasion; Estimate of the unrecorded gross domestic product by researchers; Determination of incentives for hiding economic activity.

Background The implementation of publicly funded health insurance schemes (PFHIS) is the major strategy to drive progress and achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030. We appraised evidence on the equity of insurance schemes across Africa. Methods We conducted a systematic review of published studies that assessed equity in health insurance schemes implemented under the UHC agenda in Africa. Seven databases, Web of Science, Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane Library, EMBASE and World Bank eLibrary, were searched; we operationalized the PROGRESS-Plus (p lace of r esidence; r ace/ethnicity/culture/language; o ccupation; g ender/sex r eligion; e ducation; s ocioeconomic status; s ocial capital) equity framework to assess equity areas. Results Forty-five studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study, in which 90% assessed equity by socioeconomic status. Evidence showed that rural residents, those self-employed or working in the informal sector, men, those with lower educational attainment, and the poor were less likely to be covered by health insurance schemes. Broadly, the insurance schemes, especially, community-based health insurance (CBI) schemes improved utilization by disadvantaged groups, however, the same groups were less likely to benefit from health services. Conclusions Evidence on equity of PFHIS is mixed, however, CBI schemes seem to offer more equitable coverage and utilization of essential health services in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the labour market impact of internal migration in Indonesia by instrumenting migrant flows with rainfall shocks at the origin area. Estimates reveal that a one percentage point increase in the share of migrants decreases income by 0.97% and reduces employment by 0.24 percentage points. These effects are different across sectors: employment reductions are concentrated in the formal sector, while income reduction occurs in the informal sector. Negative consequences are most pronounced for low‐skilled natives, even though migrants are systematically highly skilled. We suggest that the two‐sector nature of the labour market may explain this pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People working in Ghana's informal sector have low rates of enrolment in the publicly funded National Health Insurance Scheme. Informal sector workers, including migrant girls and women from northern Ghana working as head porters (kayayei), report challenges obtaining insurance and seeking formal health care. This article analyses how health insurance status affects kayayei migrants' care-seeking behaviours. This mixed-methods study involved surveying 625 migrants using respondent-driven sampling and conducting in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of 48 migrants. Analyses explore health status and health seeking behaviours for recent illness/injury. Binary logistic regression modelled the effects of selected independent variables on whether or not a recently ill/injured participant (n = 239) sought health care. Although recently ill/injured participants (38.4%) desired health care, less than half (43.5%) sought care. Financial barriers overwhelmingly limit kayayei migrants from seeking health care, preventing them from registering with the National Health Insurance Scheme, renewing their expired health insurance policies, or taking time away from work. Both insured and uninsured migrants did not seek formal health services due to the unpredictable nature of out-of-pocket expenses. Catastrophic and impoverishing medical expenses also drove participants' migration in search of work to repay loans and hospital bills. Health insurance can help minimize these expenditures, but only 17.4% of currently insured participants (58.2%) reported holding a valid health insurance card in Accra. The others lost their cards or forgot them when migrating. Access to formal health care in Accra remains largely inaccessible to kayayei migrants who suffer from greater illness/injury than the general female population in Accra and who are hindered in their ability to receive insurance exemptions. With internal migration on the rise in many settings, health systems must recognize the varied needs of populations in multi-ethnic and multilingual countries to ensure that internal migrants can access affordable, quality health services across domestic borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In economies with a large informal sector firms can increase profits by reducing workers' outside options in that informal sector. We formalise this idea in a simple model of an agricultural economy with plantation owners who lobby the government to enact coercive policies—e.g. the eviction and incarceration of squatting smallhold farmers—that reduce the value to working outside the formal sector. Using unique data for 14 British West Indies 'sugar islands' from 1838 (the year of slave emancipation) until 1913, we examine the impact of plantation owners' power on wages and coercion-related incarceration. To gain identification, we utilise exogenous variation in the strength of the plantation system in the different islands over time. Where planter power declined we see that incarceration rates dropped, and agricultural wages rose, accompanied by a decline in formal agricultural employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tanzania developed its 2016–26 health financing strategy to address existing inequities and inefficiencies in its health financing architecture. The strategy suggested the introduction of mandatory national health insurance, which requires long-term legal, interministerial and parliamentary procedures. In 2017/18, improved Community Health Fund (iCHF) was introduced to make short-term improvements in coverage and financial risk protection for the informal sector. Improvements involved purchaser–provider split, portability of services, uniformity in premium and risk pooling at the regional level. Using qualitative methods and drawing on the policy analysis triangle framework (context, content, actors and process) and criteria for procedural fairness, we examined the decision-making process around iCHF and the extent to which it met the criteria for a fair process. Data collection involved a document review and key informant interviews (n  = 12). The iCHF reform was exempt from following the mandatory legislative procedures, including processes for involving the public, for policy reforms in Tanzania. The Ministry of Health, leading the process, formed a technical taskforce to review evidence, draw lessons from pilots and develop plans for implementing iCHF. The taskforce included representatives from ministries, civil society organizations and CHF implementing partners with experience in running iCHF pilots. However, beneficiaries and providers were not included in these processes. iCHF was largely informed by the evidence from pilots and literature, but the evidence to reduce administrative cost by changing the oversight role to the National Health Insurance Fund was not taken into account. Moreover, the iCHF process lacked transparency beyond its key stakeholders. The iCHF reform provided a partial solution to fragmentation in the health financing system in Tanzania by expanding the pool from the district to regional level. However, its decision-making process underscores the significance of giving greater consideration to procedural fairness in reforms guided by technical institutions, which can enhance responsiveness, legitimacy and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, community-based Health Insurance (CBHI) is expanding in most of sub-Saharan African countries with the aim of improving equitable access to health services for the informal sector population. However, population enrolment into CBHI and membership renewals thereafter remains stubbornly low. The purpose of this systematic review is to generate an evidence to better understand barriers to uptake of CBHI in sub-Saharan African countries. We systematically searched for relevant studies from databases: PubMed, Scopus, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsychInfo, ProQest, Excerpta Medica dataBASE (EMBASE) and Africa-Wide Information. The search strategy combined detailed terms related to (i) CBHI, (ii) enrolment/renewal and (iii) sub-Saharan African countries. A narrative synthesis of findings was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The protocol for this systematic review was registered with International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (ref: CRD42020183959). The database search identified 4055 potential references from which 15 articles reporting on 17 studies met the eligibility criteria. The findings revealed that barriers to uptake of CBHI in sub-Saharan Africa were multidimensional in nature. Lack of awareness about the importance of health insurance, socio-economic factors, health beliefs, lack of trust towards scheme management, poor quality of health services, perceived health status and limited health benefit entitlements were reported as barriers that affect enrolments into CBHI and membership renewals. The methodological quality of studies included in this review has been found to be mostly suboptimal. The overall findings of this systematic review identified major barriers of CBHI uptake in sub-Saharan African countries which may help policymakers to make evidence-informed decisions. Findings of this review also highlighted that further research with a robust methodological quality, depth and breadth is needed to help better understand the factors that limit CBHI uptake at individual, societal and structural levels in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based health insurance expansion has been proposed as a financing solution for the sizable informal sector in low-income settings. However, there is limited evidence of the administrative costs of such schemes. We assessed annual facility and district-level costs of running the Community Health Fund (CHF), a voluntary health insurance scheme for the informal sector in a rural and an urban district from the same region in Tanzania. Information on resource use, CHF membership and revenue was obtained from district managers and health workers from two facilities in each district. The administrative cost per CHF member household and the cost to revenue ratio were estimated. Revenue collection was the most costly activity at facility level (78% of total costs), followed by stewardship and management (13%) and pooling of funds (10%). Stewardship and management was the main activity at district level. The administration cost per CHF member household ranged from USD 3.33 to USD 12.12 per year. The cost to revenue ratio ranged from 50% to 364%. The cost of administering the CHF was high relative to revenue generated. Similar studies from other settings should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the book "The Foreign Aid Business: Economic Assistance and Development Co-operation," by Kunibert Raffer and H.W. Singer. The book is concerned with the political economy and institutional aspects of aid than with an empirical analysis of its effects. It provides a review of aid flows and their interpretation, multilateralism, and some of the main areas of recent controversies on aid. The second section of the book covers specific sources and forms of aid. The final and shortest section of the book discusses new trends in aid. The disappointing experience of the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in implementing the principle of partnership has clearly demonstrated the need for aid donors to assist the developing countries in institution building and strengthening so that both the public and private sectors are able to engage in an effective policy dialogue both with each other and donors, and to take responsibility for their development programmes.

The article presents the authors' perspective of the service trends in a conservative era. We agree with Robert Schilling and his colleagues that much argument touting simplistic, private sector solutions to all manner of social ills-often accompanied by anti-professionalism--has all too frequently permeated the policy initiatives and rhetoric of the present administration. Most researchers locate social support in a general model of coping, stress, and adaptation. With respect to how social support is "delivered," we believe the authors are overly concrete in their preoccupation with "natural helping networks." Interventions designed to increase and enhance sup- ports for high risk families have demonstrated that effective helping is not dependent on having a preexisting support network, which only awaits activation, but that volunteer and even paid staff can be integrated successfully into a network perceived by clients as helpful. We believe the task of the profession is not to seek out ideologically correct service solutions, but to examine critically the strengths and limits of a variety of formal and informal helping approaches with the goal of increasing the range of options available to individuals and families in need.