IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecinqu/v60y2022i1p174-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foreign aid, public investment, and the informal economy

Author

Listed:
  • Santanu Chatterjee
  • Mark C. Kelly
  • Stephen J. Turnovsky

Abstract

This paper examines the absorption of foreign aid in the presence of formal and informal production. Calibrating a two‐sector open economy model to 67 aid‐recipient countries for 1990–2019, we show that an increase in foreign aid drives resources into the informal sector, and away from the formal sector. With untied aid, the expansion of the informal sector can lead to an economic contraction through the Dutch Disease effect. An economic expansion with an increase in the share of formal production can be attained by re‐allocating existing aid to public investment rather than an increase in the aggregate level of aid.

Suggested Citation

  • Santanu Chatterjee & Mark C. Kelly & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2022. "Foreign aid, public investment, and the informal economy," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 174-201, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:60:y:2022:i:1:p:174-201
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.13019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13019
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecin.13019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johnson, Simon & Kaufmann, Daniel & Zoido-Lobaton, Pablo, 1998. "Regulatory Discretion and the Unofficial Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 387-392, May.
    2. Caroline M. Betts & Timothy J. Kehoe, 2008. "Real exchange rate movements and the relative price of non-traded goods," Staff Report 415, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    3. Schmitt-Grohe, Stephanie & Uribe, Martin, 2003. "Closing small open economy models," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 163-185, October.
    4. Rafael La Porta & Andrei Shleifer, 2014. "Informality and Development," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 109-126, Summer.
    5. Mahbub Morshed, A. K. M. & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2004. "Sectoral adjustment costs and real exchange rate dynamics in a two-sector dependent economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 147-177, May.
    6. César Calderón & Alberto Chong & Luisa Zanforlin, 2007. "Current Account Deficits in Africa: Stylized Facts and Basic Determinants," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(1), pages 191-221, October.
    7. Eric Werker & Faisal Z. Ahmed & Charles Cohen, 2009. "How Is Foreign Aid Spent? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 225-244, July.
    8. Brock, Philip L & Turnovsky, Stephen J, 1994. "The Dependent-Economy Model with Both Traded and Nontraded Capital Goods," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 306-325, October.
    9. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 1997. "International Macroeconomic Dynamics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262201119, December.
    10. Valerie Cerra & Serpil Tekin & Stephen Turnovsky, 2009. "Foreign Transfers and Real Exchange Rate Adjustments in a Financially Constrained Dependent Economy," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 147-181, April.
    11. Ozgur Kaya & Ilker Kaya & Lewell Gunter, 2013. "Foreign Aid and the Quest for Poverty Reduction: Is Aid to Agriculture Effective?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 583-596, September.
    12. Andres Fernandez & Felipe Meza, 2015. "Informal Employment and Business Cycles in Emerging Economies: The Case of Mexico," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(2), pages 381-405, April.
    13. Guvenen, Fatih, 2006. "Reconciling conflicting evidence on the elasticity of intertemporal substitution: A macroeconomic perspective," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 1451-1472, October.
    14. Chatterjee Santanu & Giuliano Paola & Kaya Ilker, 2012. "Where Has All the Money Gone? Foreign Aid and the Composition of Government Spending," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-36, August.
    15. Philip L. Brock, 1996. "International Transfers, the Relative Price on Non-Traded Goods, and the Current Account," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 163-180, February.
    16. Prado, Mauricio, 2011. "Government policy in the formal and informal sectors," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1120-1136.
    17. Sebastian Galiani & Stephen Knack & Lixin Colin Xu & Ben Zou, 2017. "The effect of aid on growth: evidence from a Quasi-experiment," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-33, March.
    18. Rafael La Porta & Andrei Shleifer, 2008. "The Unofficial Economy and Economic Development," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(2 (Fall)), pages 275-363.
    19. Dreher, Axel & Fuchs, Andreas & Langlotz, Sarah, 2019. "The effects of foreign aid on refugee flows," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 127-147.
    20. repec:bpj:bejmac:v:12:y:2012:i:1:n:26 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Jones, Ronald W., 1975. "Income distribution and effective protection in a multicommodity trade model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, August.
    22. Gupta, Sanjeev & Kangur, Alvar & Papageorgiou, Chris & Wane, Abdoul, 2014. "Efficiency-Adjusted Public Capital and Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 164-178.
    23. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    24. Tony Addison & Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2017. "Aid, the Real Exchange Rate and Why Policy Matters: The Cases of Morocco and Tunisia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(7), pages 1104-1121, July.
    25. Rauch, James E., 1991. "Modelling the informal sector formally," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 33-47, January.
    26. Friedrich Schneider & Andreas Buehn & Claudio Montenegro, 2010. "New Estimates for the Shadow Economies all over the World," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 443-461.
    27. Chatterjee, Santanu & Mursagulov, Azer, 2016. "Fiscal Policy And The Real Exchange Rate," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(7), pages 1742-1770, October.
    28. Gomis-Porqueras, Pedro & Peralta-Alva, Adrian & Waller, Christopher, 2014. "The shadow economy as an equilibrium outcome," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-19.
    29. Ozgur Kaya & Ilker Kaya & Lewell Gunter, 2012. "Development Aid to Agriculture and Economic Growth," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 230-242, May.
    30. Chatterjee, Santanu & Sakoulis, Georgios & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2003. "Unilateral capital transfers, public investment, and economic growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1077-1103, December.
    31. Felicitas Nowak‐Lehmann & Axel Dreher & Dierk Herzer & Stephan Klasen & Inmaculada Martínez‐Zarzoso, 2012. "Does foreign aid really raise per capita income? A time series perspective," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 288-313, February.
    32. Herrendorf, Berthold & Rogerson, Richard & Valentinyi, Ákos, 2014. "Growth and Structural Transformation," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 855-941, Elsevier.
    33. Amaral, Pedro S. & Quintin, Erwan, 2006. "A competitive model of the informal sector," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 1541-1553, October.
    34. David Dollar & Craig Burnside, 2000. "Aid, Policies, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 847-868, September.
    35. Pedro R.D. Bom & Jenny E. Ligthart, 2014. "What Have We Learned From Three Decades Of Research On The Productivity Of Public Capital?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 889-916, December.
    36. Chatterjee, Santanu & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2018. "Remittances and the informal economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 66-83.
    37. William Easterly, 2003. "Can Foreign Aid Buy Growth?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 23-48, Summer.
    38. Dominik H. Enste & Friedrich Schneider, 2000. "Shadow Economies: Size, Causes, and Consequences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 77-114, March.
    39. Chatterjee, Santanu & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2007. "Foreign aid and economic growth: The role of flexible labor supply," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 507-533, September.
    40. W. E. G. Salter, 1959. "Internal And External Balance: The Role Op Price And Expenditure Effects," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(71), pages 226-238, August.
    41. T. W.Swan, 1960. "Economic Control In A Dependent Economy," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 36(73), pages 51-66, March.
    42. Finkelstein Shapiro, Alan, 2014. "Self-employment and business cycle persistence: Does the composition of employment matter for economic recoveries?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 200-218.
    43. Ihrig, Jane & Moe, Karine S., 2004. "Lurking in the shadows: the informal sector and government policy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 541-557, April.
    44. Sonia Di Giannatale & Gibrán Ramírez-Abarca & Ricardo Smith, 2013. "Estimating the Effects of Formality on Mexican Informal Microfirms. A Joint Multivariate Approach," Economía Mexicana NUEVA ÉPOCA, CIDE, División de Economía, vol. 0(4, Cierre), pages 441-463.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Santanu Chatterjee & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2023. "Government expenditure and informality in an emerging economy: the recent experience of India," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 293-318, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Santanu Chatterjee & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2023. "Government expenditure and informality in an emerging economy: the recent experience of India," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 293-318, September.
    2. Chatterjee, Santanu & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2018. "Remittances and the informal economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 66-83.
    3. Chatterjee, Santanu & Lebesmuehlbacher, Thomas & Narayanan, Abhinav, 2021. "How productive is public investment? Evidence from formal and informal production in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Serpil Bouza & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2012. "The Effects of Foreign Transfers with Flexible Labor Supply," Ekonomi-tek - International Economics Journal, Turkish Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 1-39, January.
    5. Chatterjee, Santanu & Mursagulov, Azer, 2016. "Fiscal Policy And The Real Exchange Rate," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(7), pages 1742-1770, October.
    6. Semih Tumen, 2017. "Entrepreneurship in the shadows," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 25(2), pages 239-269, April.
    7. Valerie Cerra & Serpil Tekin & Stephen Turnovsky, 2009. "Foreign Transfers and Real Exchange Rate Adjustments in a Financially Constrained Dependent Economy," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 147-181, April.
    8. Mitra, Shalini, 2014. "Tax Evasion, Tax Policies and the Role Played by Financial Markets," MPRA Paper 58977, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Norman V. Loayza, 2016. "Informality in the Process of Development and Growth," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(12), pages 1856-1916, December.
    10. Marshall, Emily C. & Saunoris, James & Solis-Garcia, Mario & Do, Trang, 2023. "Measuring the size and dynamics of U.S. state-level shadow economies using a dynamic general equilibrium model with trends," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Brock, Philip L., 2011. "The Penn-Balassa-Samuelson effect through the lens of the dependent economy model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1547-1556, September.
    12. Ceyhun Elgin & Muhammed Burak Sezgin, 2017. "Sectoral Estimates of Informality: A New Method and Application for the Turkish Economy," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 55(4), pages 261-289, December.
    13. Mahbub Morshed, A.K.M. & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2011. "Real exchange rate dynamics: The role of elastic labor supply," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1303-1322.
    14. Temple, Jonathan & Van de Sijpe, Nicolas, 2017. "Foreign aid and domestic absorption," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 431-443.
    15. Julio Cesar Leal Ordonez, 2014. "Tax collection, the informal sector, and productivity," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 17(2), pages 262-286, April.
    16. Yépez, Carlos A., 2019. "Informality and international business cycles," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 252-263.
    17. Roberto Dell'Anno, 2022. "Theories and definitions of the informal economy: A survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1610-1643, December.
    18. Santanu Chatterjee & Olaf Posch & Dennis Wesselbaum, 2017. "Delays in Public Goods," Working Papers 1702, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2017.
    19. Chatterjee Santanu & Giuliano Paola & Kaya Ilker, 2012. "Where Has All the Money Gone? Foreign Aid and the Composition of Government Spending," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-36, August.
    20. Chletsos, Michael & Sintos, Andreas, 2021. "Hide and seek: IMF intervention and the shadow economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 292-319.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:60:y:2022:i:1:p:174-201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.