Informal Economy

  ANALYSIS OF ARTICLE Article summarizes concepts presented on the OECD Handbook for NOE and provides details on the estimate for Brazil from 2000 to 2009.       Section 1 (Introduction) Authors tailor the NOE definition to encompass the families’ productive activities effected informally or for self-consumption, not formally registered, eventually illegal, or not covered by the official statistics. Brazil’s SNA incorporated new methodologies from 2007 allowing for a better NOE estimation.     Section 2 (The Non-Observed Economy NOE) The article explains how the NOE derives from the SNA (System of National Accounts) limitations on capturing the full information, resulting in an underground statistics composed by undercoverage of areas, lack of data or underdeclared data. SNA improvements over time tend to reduce NOE’s size. It also highlights the importance to have a measure of the NOE not to work with an undersestimated GDP, not o...

  ANALYSIS OF ARTICLE Article provides a summary of the OECD measurements of the Non-Observed Economy, using its categories (1) underground, (2) informal and (3) illegal. NOE estimates compose an important reference to estimating the size of the informal economy.     Section 1 (Definitions and classifications) NOE defined as per “Measuring the Non-Observed Economy – a Handbook (OECD-IMFILO-CIS Stat, 2002)”, comprehending five main areas: underground (productive and legal, avoid taxes), illegal (productive but not legal), informal (productive but unregistered), households for own-final use and statistical underground (productive missed from SNA).     Section 2 (A framework for measurement) The article uses OECD N1-N7 categories are sized to provide an exhaustive measurement of productive activities in the economy.     Section 3 (Estimation Methods applied by national statistical offices) : Authors refer to the “Handbook on Measuring the NOE”, as well ...

  ANALYSIS OF ARTICLE Didactic article describing different methodologies to estimate the size of the Shadow Economy, focusing on MIMIC and some alternatives over it. It provides estimates for 158 countries from 1991 to 2015, using different methods. Article also discuss possible research areas for those methods.     Section 1 (Introduction) –. The paper uses the shadow economy definition of legal economic and productive activities that would contribute to national GDP. Goals: 1)       Evaluate and discuss latest estimation methods: CDA, MIMIC, PMM 2)       Present shadow economy estimates for 158 countries from 1991 to 2015 3)       Compare results of different estimation methods.     Section 2 (Theoretical Considerations) Shadow Economy SE depends on: a)       p = Probability of detection a.       determined by en...

  ANALYSIS OF ARTICLE The article proposes an Equilibrium Model including intensive margin in the analysis of informality. It sheds light to a different perspective of informality, where intensive margin (informal labor) and extensive margin (informal firms) may lean in different directions. Literature focuses more on extensive margin, and usually with analysis to reduce entry cost or enforce formalization. To include intensive margin, the Article proposes a taxonomy (Survival, Parasites and De Soto’s) and a framework (switchers, always formal and always informal firms) to assess the impact of policies and winners and losers, in lieu of the Model proposed. Firm and labor informality do not move in the same direction, because of policy changes. Lower informality can eventually be associated with higher output, TFP or welfare. This is a seminal article to further analyze Equilibrium Models for informality.     SUMMARY OF ARTICLE (provides an overview of the Article, with c...