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Evaluating the Variations in Employment Relations Across Developing! Economies: A Degrees of Informalisation Approach

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  • Williams Colin C.

    (Public Policy, Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield, Conduit Road, Sheffield S10 1FL, United Kingdom)

Abstract

Conventionally, cross-national variations in employment relations systems have been compared by analysing the different characters of their formal economies (e.g., whether they are control, market or mixed economies). Recognising the persistence and even growth of informal employment, this paper examines the cross-national variations in the degree of informalisation of employment relations and then evaluates critically whether such variations are associated with: under-development (modernisation theory); high taxes, corruption and state interference (neo-liberal theory), or inadequate state intervention to protect workers from poverty (political economy theory). Reporting International Labour Organisation surveys of informal employment in 41 developing economies, the finding is that the share of the non-agricultural workforce in informal employment ranges from 83.6 per cent in India to 6.1 per cent in Serbia. Evaluating critically how these cross-national variations can be explained, support is found for the modernisation and political economy theses that associates greater informalisation with under-development and inadequate state protection of workers from poverty and the neo-­liberal corruption thesis. No evidence is found that greater informalisation is associated with the neo-liberal theses of higher taxes and more state interference. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Williams Colin C., 2015. "Evaluating the Variations in Employment Relations Across Developing! Economies: A Degrees of Informalisation Approach," Journal of Economy and its Applications, Sciendo, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:jecapp:v:5:y:2015:i:1:p:1-21:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/jea-2015-0001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lars P. Feld & Friedrich Schneider, 2010. "Survey on the Shadow Economy and Undeclared Earnings in OECD Countries," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 11(2), pages 109-149, May.
    2. Yamada, Gustavo, 1996. "Urban Informal Employment and Self-Employment in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(2), pages 289-314, January.
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    4. Colin C. Williams, 2013. "Evaluating cross-national variations in the extent and nature of informal employment in the European Union," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5-6), pages 479-494, November.
    5. Lars P. Feld & Friedrich Schneider, 2010. "Survey on the Shadow Economy and Undeclared Earnings in OECD Countries," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 11(2), pages 109-149, May.
    6. Ted London & Stuart L Hart, 2004. "Reinventing strategies for emerging markets: beyond the transnational model," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(5), pages 350-370, September.
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    9. Williams Colin C. & Franic Josip & Dzhekova Rositsa, 2015. "Explaining the Undeclared Economy in Bulgaria: an Institutional Asymmetry Perspective," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 9(2), pages 33-45, March.
    10. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2012. "Tackling the hidden enterprise culture: Government policies to support the formalization of informal entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(9-10), pages 895-915, December.
    11. Williams, Colin C. & Martinez-Perez, Alvaro, 2014. "Why do consumers purchase goods and services in the informal economy?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 802-806.
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