Trade Sanctions and Informal Employment

Trade Sanctions and Informal Employment PDF Author: Ali Moghaddasi Kelishomi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789292673277
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper examines how trade sanctions affect the allocation of workers across formal and informal employment. We analyse the case of the unexpected and unprecedented trade sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012. We use a difference-in-differences approach and compare the probability of working in the informal sector before and after 2012 for individuals employed in industries with pre-existing different levels of exposure to international trade. Combining employment data from the Iranian Labour Force Survey and trade data from Iran's Customs Administration database for the years 2008-14, we find that workers employed in industries initially facing higher exposure to trade are significantly more likely to experience informal employment in the years after 2012 than workers employed in industries with lower trade exposure. This result suggests that, in the short run, the informal sector may absorb a significant fraction of workers displaced by the trade shock caused by the sanctions. We estimate that the increase in informal employment is highest for poorly educated workers, highlighting the unequal labour market consequences of trade sanctions. We exclude that industries differentially exposed to international trade were already following a different trend in the share of informal employment in the years prior to 2012, thus providing empirical support for the validity of our identification strategy. Moreover, we show that our main result holds when accounting for potential sorting issues by an instrumental variable approach. Our findings shed light on a potentially important dimension of labour reallocation whereby trade sanctions can affect the economy of the target country. They also provide important implications for policies designed to address informal employment and to assist trade-displaced workers.

Trade Sanctions and Informal Employment

Trade Sanctions and Informal Employment PDF Author: Ali Moghaddasi Kelishomi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789292673277
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This paper examines how trade sanctions affect the allocation of workers across formal and informal employment. We analyse the case of the unexpected and unprecedented trade sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012. We use a difference-in-differences approach and compare the probability of working in the informal sector before and after 2012 for individuals employed in industries with pre-existing different levels of exposure to international trade. Combining employment data from the Iranian Labour Force Survey and trade data from Iran's Customs Administration database for the years 2008-14, we find that workers employed in industries initially facing higher exposure to trade are significantly more likely to experience informal employment in the years after 2012 than workers employed in industries with lower trade exposure. This result suggests that, in the short run, the informal sector may absorb a significant fraction of workers displaced by the trade shock caused by the sanctions. We estimate that the increase in informal employment is highest for poorly educated workers, highlighting the unequal labour market consequences of trade sanctions. We exclude that industries differentially exposed to international trade were already following a different trend in the share of informal employment in the years prior to 2012, thus providing empirical support for the validity of our identification strategy. Moreover, we show that our main result holds when accounting for potential sorting issues by an instrumental variable approach. Our findings shed light on a potentially important dimension of labour reallocation whereby trade sanctions can affect the economy of the target country. They also provide important implications for policies designed to address informal employment and to assist trade-displaced workers.

Economic Sanctions and Informal Employment

Economic Sanctions and Informal Employment PDF Author: Ali Moghaddasi Kelishomi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper examines how economic sanctions affect the allocation of workers across formal and informal employment. We analyse the case of the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, we compare the probability of being employed in the informal sector before and after 2012 for workers in industries with different pre-existing exposure to international trade. Our analysis reveals that, following the sanctions, workers in industries with higher trade exposure are significantly more likely to experience informal employment compared to workers in industries with lower trade exposure. These results remain robust when accounting for potential sorting issues by using an instrumental variable approach. Our findings suggest that the sudden shock to market access caused by the sanctions might have induced a decline in firms' productivity, especially in industries that heavily depend on imported inputs, and therefore an increase in firms' incentives to reduce the costs by shifting their employees to the informal sector. This sheds light on an important margin of labour market adjustment through which sanctions can affect the economy of the target country.

The Long Shadow of Informality

The Long Shadow of Informality PDF Author: Franziska Ohnsorge
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464817545
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.

Globalization and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries

Globalization and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries PDF Author: Marc Bacchetta
Publisher: World Trade Organization
ISBN: 9789287036919
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
World trade has expanded significantly in recent years, making a major contribution to global growth. Economic growth has not led to a corresponding improvement in working conditions and living standards for many workers. In developing countries, job creation has largely taken place in the informal economy, where around 60 per cent of workers are employed. Most of the workers in the informal economy have almost no job security, low incomes and no social protection, with limited opportunities to benefit from globalization. This study focuses on the relationship between trade And The growth of the informal economy in developing countries. Based on existing academic literature, complemented with new empirical research by the ILO And The WTO, The study discusses how trade reform affects different aspects of the informal economy. it also examines how high rates of informal employment diminish the scope for developing countries to translate trade openness into sustainable long-term growth. The report analyses how well-designed trade and decent-work friendly policies can complement each other so as to promote sustainable development and growing prosperity in developing countries.

Informality Revisited

Informality Revisited PDF Author: William Francis Maloney
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Informal sector (Economics)
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
The author develops a view of the informal sector in developing countries primarily as an unregulated micro-entrepreneurial sector and not as a disadvantaged residual of segmented labor markets. Drawing on recent work from Latin America, he offers alternative explanations for many of the characteristics of the informal sector customarily regarded as evidence of its inferiority.

Iraq's Informal Economy

Iraq's Informal Economy PDF Author: Robert Looney
Publisher: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research
ISBN: 994800891X
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 13

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Book Description
Iraq’s economy has undergone profound changes over the last decade, many of which have had significant implications on the evolution of the country’s informal economy. The statist, heavy-handed economic policies of the Ba’athist government concentrated much of Iraq’s productive capacity on nationalized factors, which degraded under the sanctions regime of the 1990s, when both industrial and agricultural production faltered for lack of input. The 2003 overthrow of the regime saw the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contract by 35 percent and it has recovered little since then, despite US-led reconstruction efforts. The only part of the economy to have survived both Saddam Hussein and the post-2003 period of instability is the country’s informal economy. At the aggregate level, corruption appears to be a key factor in the growth of Iraq’s informal economy. Over the years, corruption at many levels has led to a general reduction in trust on the part of market participants. Furthermore, the reduction in social capital has forced the shift of many transactions from the formal to the informal markets, where intimate knowledge of participants provides some insurance against fraud and non-compliance. Other factors, such as the shortage of energy and electricity and the dangers associated with transport, have caused a number of previously formal businesses to revert to the informal economy. This has been particularly evident in the agricultural sector, the neglect and subsequent demise of which has not only forced many farmers into informal subsistence-type farming, but has also greatly limited the ability of the sector to play its traditional role as a temporary source of employment for unemployed urban workers. The shutting down of many schools and poor quality of education among others, together with low family incomes, have forced many children into the informal sector—mainly as street vendors. The country’s many child labor laws are being largely ignored by the authorities. Meanwhile, women are also increasingly becoming participants in the informal economy. Many have been widowed or abandoned and the informal sector provides their easiest access to income. The high level of corruption in post-war Iraq continues to reinforce these trends. In its latest assessment, the prestigious Transparency International has ranked Iraq as the most corrupt country in the Middle East. In short, the issues require far more than simply organizing and financing a massive construction program. Rather, what is required is the rebuilding of a devastated economy and society simultaneously. In a nutshell, the issues require a development strategy under crisis. This study outlines several areas that require greater attention in the country’s reform program, as well as strategies that might help stem the tide toward informal activity in Iraq. Taken as a whole, these policy initiatives have the potential to not only significantly expand domestic employment opportunities, but more importantly, to do so through the creation of a virtuous cycle with feedback between the domestic market, further reforms and the incorporation of the informal segments of the economy into the formal sector. Ultimately, a rapidly growing formal private sector is essential for making any significant progress in combating Iraq’s vast informal economy and job creation needs.

Revisiting the Informal Sector

Revisiting the Informal Sector PDF Author: Sarbajit Chaudhuri
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441911944
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
This book provides insight into the diverse aspects of the informal sector, its role in the context of unemployment, child labor, globalization and environment, as well as its multi-faceted interaction with the other sectors of the economy.

Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact?

Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact? PDF Author: Bouet, Antoine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
Informal cross-border trade (ICBT) represents a prominent phenomenon in Africa. Several studies suggest that for certain products and countries, the value of informal trade may meet or even exceed the value of formal trade. This paper provides a review of existing efforts to measure informal trade. We list 18 initiatives aimed at measuring ICBT in Africa. The paper also summarizes discussions conducted with many stakeholders in Africa between December 2016 and May 2018 regarding the measurement, the determinants, and the implications of ICBT. The methodologies used to measure ICBT in Africa differ widely, but they do confirm that informal trade in Africa is both sizeable and volatile. Both evidence on the determinants of ICBT and discussions with stakeholders suggest that policies should aim to reduce the existing costs associated with formal trade and provide positive incentives for traders and producers to move into the formal economy in order to avoid the loss of economic potential stemming from informal trade.

Informality

Informality PDF Author: Guillermo Perry
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821370936
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Analyzes informality in Latin America, exploring root causes and reasons for and implications of its growth. This book uses two distinct but complementary lenses. It concludes that reducing informality levels and overcoming the "culture of informality" will require actions to increase aggregate productivity in the economy.

Economic Informality

Economic Informality PDF Author: Ana Maria Oviedo
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821379976
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
This survey assembles recent theoretical and empirical advances in the literature on economic informality and analyzes the causes and costs of informality in developed and developing economies. Using recent evidence, the survey discusses the nature and roots of informal economic activity across countries, distinguishing between informality as the result of exclusion and exit. The survey provides an extensive review of recent international experience with policies aimed at reducing informality, in particular, policies that facilitate the formalization process, create a framework for the transition from informality to formality, lend support to newly created firms, reduce or eliminate inconsistencies across regulation and government agencies, increase information flows, and increase enforcement.