IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jes/journl/y2022v13p54-76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the relationship between sustainable development, localisation and the informal economy: evidence from Romania

Author

Listed:
  • Ioana Alexandra HORODNIC

    (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania)

  • Colin C. WILLIAMS

    (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)

  • Iuliana M. CHIÈšAC

    (Westminster Business School, University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to deepen understanding of the relationship between sustainable development, localisation and the purchase of goods and services from the informal economy. This has not before been investigated. To do so, it reports a survey of 1,209 respondents conducted during October-December 2021 in Romania, a country with one of the largest informal economies in the European Union. The findings reveal a link between consumers' motives to purchase informal goods and services and the pursuit of sustainable development through localisation. The analysis shows that there is no purely sustainability-driven consumer in the informal economy, but this rationale is prevalent as one of several motives for a large proportion of consumers purchasing goods and services from the informal economy, who do so explicitly for the purposes of environmental protection and localisation. The implications for theorising and tackling the informal economy are then discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Ioana Alexandra HORODNIC & Colin C. WILLIAMS & Iuliana M. CHIÈšAC, 2022. "Evaluating the relationship between sustainable development, localisation and the informal economy: evidence from Romania," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 13, pages 54-76, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:jes:journl:y:2022:v:13:p:54-76
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2022-0203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ejes.uaic.ro/articles/EJES2022_1302_HOR.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2022-0203?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. Kemp, Katherine & Insch, Andrea & Holdsworth, David K. & Knight, John G., 2010. "Food miles: Do UK consumers actually care?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 504-513, December.
    2. Leandro Medina & Mr. Friedrich Schneider, 2018. "Shadow Economies Around the World: What Did We Learn Over the Last 20 Years?," IMF Working Papers 2018/017, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Konrád Kiss & Csaba Ruszkai & Katalin Takács-György, 2019. "Examination of Short Supply Chains Based on Circular Economy and Sustainability Aspects," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Ioana Alexandra HORODNIC & Colin C WILLIAMS & Rodica IANOLE-CÄ‚LIN, 2020. "Does higher cash-in-hand income motivate young people to engage in under-declared employment?," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 11, pages 48-69, December.
    5. Colin C Williams & Slavko Bezeredi, 2017. "Explaining Consumers’ Motives for Purchasing from the Informal Economy: Some Lessons from a Study of Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR of of Macedonia," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 4, pages 515-531, December.
    6. Łukasz Wróblewski & Zdzisława Dacko-Pikiewicz, 2018. "Sustainable Consumer Behaviour in the Market of Cultural Services in Central European Countries: The Example of Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-11, October.
    7. Colin C WILLIAMS & Slavko BEZEREDI, 2018. "Explaining informal entrepreneurship in South-East Europe: a tax morale approach," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 9, pages 47-68, December.
    8. Canh P. Nguyen & Christophe Schinckus & Dinh Su Thanh, 2020. "Economic Fluctuations And The Shadow Economy: A Global Study," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(03), pages 1-24, September.
    9. Colin C Williams & Junhong Yang, 2017. "Tackling falsely-declared salaries in Bulgaria: evidence from a 2015 survey," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 3, pages 333-351, September.
    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. Windi Dwi Nanda & Ida Widianingsih & Ahmad Zaini Miftah, 2023. "The Linkage of Digital Transformation and Tourism Development Policies in Indonesia from 1879–2022: Trends and Implications for the Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-24, June.

    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. Ioana Alexandra Horodnic & Colin C. Williams & Oana Țugulea & Iuliana Claudia Stoian Bobâlcă, 2022. "Exploring the Demand-Side of the Informal Economy during the COVID-19 Restrictions: Lessons from Iași, Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2022. "Does economic complexity matter for the shadow economy?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 210-227.
    3. Colin Williams & Brunilda Kosta, 2021. "Why do Consumers Buy from Informal Sector Suppliers in East-Central Europe? A Case Study of Home Repair and Renovation Services," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 134-152, March.
    4. Ioana Alexandra Horodnic & Colin C. Williams & Alexandru Maxim & Iuliana Claudia Stoian & Oana Carmen Țugulea & Adrian V. Horodnic, 2021. "Knowing and Unknowing Purchases of Undeclared Healthcare Goods and Services: The Role of Vertical and Horizontal Trust," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, November.
    5. Paraskevi Koufopoulou & Colin C. Williams & Athanassios Vozikis & Kyriakos Souliotis & Antonios Samprakos, 2021. "Estimating Shadow Economy Size in Greece 2000 - 2018: A Flexible MIMIC Approach," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 71(3-4), pages 23-47, July-Dece.
    6. Ndoya, Hermann & Okere, Donald & Belomo, Marie laure & Atangana, Melissa, 2023. "Does ICTs decrease the spread of informal economy in Africa?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    7. Ligita Gasparėnienė & Rita Remeikienė & Colin C. Williams, 2022. "Unemployment and the Informal Economy," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-030-96687-4, October.
    8. Friedrich Schneider & Mangirdas Morkunas & Erika Quendler, 2021. "Measuring the Immeasurable: The Evolution of the Size of Informal Economy in the Agricultural Sector in the EU-15 up to 2019," CESifo Working Paper Series 8937, CESifo.
    9. Aga,Gemechu A. & Campos,Francisco Moraes Leitao & Conconi,Adriana & Davies,Elwyn Adriaan Robin & Geginat,Carolin, 2021. "Informal Firms in Mozambique : Status and Potential," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9712, The World Bank.
    10. Piotr Dybka & Bartosz Olesiński & Marek Rozkrut & Andrzej Torój, 2023. "Measuring the model uncertainty of shadow economy estimates," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(4), pages 1069-1106, August.
    11. Anda David & Yoro Diallo & Björn Nilsson, 2023. "Informality and Inequality: The African Case," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 273-295.
    12. Antonino Galati & Giuseppina Migliore & Alkis Thrassou & Giorgio Schifani & Giuseppina Rizzo & Nino Adamashvili & Maria Crescimanno, 2023. "Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Agri-Food Products Delivered with Electric Vehicles in the Short Supply Chains," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(2), pages 193-207, June.
    13. Luc Jacolin & Joseph Keneck Massil & Alphonse Noah, 2021. "Informal sector and mobile financial services in emerging and developing countries: Does financial innovation matter?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(9), pages 2703-2737, September.
    14. Phoebe W. Ishak & Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2022. "Oil price shocks, protest, and the shadow economy: Is there a mitigation effect?," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 298-321, July.
    15. Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu & Tamara Maria Nae & Margareta-Stela Florescu, 2022. "Exploring the Moderation and Mediation Effects in Addressing the Main Determinants of Income Inequalities in Supporting Quality of Life: Insights from CEE Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-28, July.
    16. Ohnsorge, Franziska & Capasso, Salvatore & Yu, Shu, 2022. "From Financial Development to Informality: A Causal Link," CEPR Discussion Papers 17565, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Schnettler, Berta & Sánchez, Mercedes & Orellana, Ligia & Sepúlveda, José, 2013. "Country of origin and ethnocentrism: a review from the perspective of food consumption," Economia Agraria y Recursos Naturales, Spanish Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 17.
    18. E. Moreva L. & Е. Морева Л., 2018. "Неформальная экономика и инновации: contra et pro // Informal Economy and Innovation: Contra et Pro," Экономика. Налоги. Право // Economics, taxes & law, ФГОБУ "Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации" // Financial University under The Government of Russian Federation, vol. 11(5), pages 38-47.
    19. Canh Phuc Nguyen & Su Dinh Thanh & Bach Nguyen, 2022. "Economic uncertainty and tourism consumption," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(4), pages 920-941, June.
    20. Stephen Esaku, 2022. "Institutionalized democracy and the shadow economy in the short- and long-run: empirical analysis from Uganda," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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:jes:journl:y:2022:v:13:p:54-76. 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: Alupului Ciprian (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csjesro.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.