Informality

Spatial Inequality and Informality in Kenya’s Firm Network

The spatial configuration of domestic supply chains plays a crucial role in the transmission of shocks.

Working Paper
24 Apr 2025

Asymmetric Information and Digital Technology Adoption: Evidence from Senegal

Digital technologies have the potential to increase firm productivity. However, they often come bundled with data observability, which can be a double-edged sword.

Working Paper
14 Jan 2025

Beyond Beneficial Information: The Impact of Additional Consulting on Digital Record Adoption and Profit Measurement

Can personalized digital record-keeping support for small firms in developing countries increase adoption rates compared to those receiving only general information?

Working Paper
14 Nov 2024

Can mobile money adoption induce microenterprises to formalize? Evidence from a field experiment in Burkina Faso

This paper examines whether mobile money innovation can induce microenterprises to formalize, an aspect that has been overlooked in the empirical literature.

Working Paper
7 Oct 2024

Informal firms’ adoption and use of mobile money under uncertain times: evidence from Burkina Faso

This paper investigates how uncertainty driven by political instability or the Covid-19 crisis affects mobile money adoption and use by informal businesses in Burkina Faso.

Working Paper
17 Aug 2023

How should the government bring small firms into the formal system? Experimental evidence from Malawi

Governments seek to reduce pervasive firm informality for multiple reasons: taxes, firm growth, rule of law, and information.

Journal Article
1 Mar 2023

Can mobile money adoption induce microenterprises to formalise? Evidence from a field experiment in Burkina Faso

This research investigates whether the adoption of mobile money can induce microenterprises to formalise. We use as setting Burkina Faso and exploit survey data on informal business and randomised incentives and information.

Research Note
17 Feb 2023

The collusion trap: Theory with evidence from informal markets in Lagos, Nigeria

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.

Journal Article
31 Jan 2023

Informality

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.

VoxDevLit
11 Jan 2023

Gender Differences in Informal Labour Market Resilience

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.

Journal Article
26 Dec 2022

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