Informal actors often compete with formal or regulated ones. Regulated actors therefore can be natural allies in government attempts to enforce laws and regulations. Yet they often are not.
The rise of China in the global economy has been linked with negative impacts on employment across many high and middle-income countries. However, evidence for African countries is limited.
We document differences in the experiences of firms and firm owners by gender during the early COVID-19 crisis in Ghana. Female-owned firms are more likely to close during the Spring of 2020, but equally likely to be open by July 2020.
Most low- and middle-income countries are characterised by a large informal sector, which implies that a substantial fraction of economic activity in these countries is completely unregulated.
We quantify the benefits of better firm-to-firm matching in an aggregate diffusion model where individuals reap profitable knowledge from others in the economy.
This paper reports on the universe of garment-making firm owners in a Ghanaian district capital during the COVID-19 crisis. By July 2020, 80% of both male- and female-owned firms were operational.
This paper examines whether mobile money adoption can induce informal firms to formalize, an aspect that has been overlooked in the empirical literature.
