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The implications of capital-skill complementarity in economies with large informal sectors

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Pedro Amaral
Erwan Quintin

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Abstract

In most developing nations, formal workers tend to be more experienced, more educated, and earn more than informal workers. These facts are often interpreted as evidence that low-skill workers face barriers to entry into the formal sector. Yet, there exists little direct evidence that such barriers are important. This paper describes a model where significant differences arise between formal and informal workers even though labor markets are perfectly competitive. In equilibrium, the informal sector emphasizes low-skill work because informal managers have access to less outside financing, and choose to substitute low-skill labor for physical capital.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in its series Center for Latin America Working Papers with number 0404.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:fip:feddcl:0404

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Keywords: Labor market;

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References listed on IDEAS
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  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 387-92, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Pradhan, Menno & van Soest, Arthur, 1995. "Formal and informal sector employment in urban areas of Bolivia," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 275-297, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Magnac, Th, 1991. "Segmented or Competitive Labor Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 165-87, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Fortin, Bernard & Marceau, Nicolas & Savard, Luc, 1997. "Taxation, wage controls and the informal sector," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 293-312, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte, 1999. "Informality and rent-seeking bureaucracies in a model of long-run growth," Working Paper 99-07, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Loayza, Norman V., 1996. "The economics of the informal sector: a simple model and some empirical evidence from Latin America," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 129-162, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Sageeta Pratap & Erwan Quintin, 2002. "Are Labor Markets Segmented in Argentina? A Semiparametric Approach," Working Papers 0202, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Kehoe, Timothy J & Levine, David K, 1993. "Debt-Constrained Asset Markets," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 60(4), pages 865-88, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Courts: the Lex Mundi Project," NBER Working Papers 8890, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Maloney, William F, 1999. "Does Informality Imply Segmentation in Urban Labor Markets? Evidence from Sectoral Transitions in Mexico," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 275-302, May.
  11. Robert E. Lucas Jr., 1978. "On the Size Distribution of Business Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 508-523, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Tannen, Michael B, 1991. "Labor Markets in Northeast Brazil: Does the Dual Market Model Apply?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(3), pages 567-83, April.
  13. Friedrich Schneider & Dominik H. Enste, 2000. "Shadow Economies: Size, Causes, and Consequences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 77-114, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
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  1. Koziarivska Larysa & Oliinyk Andrii, 2006. "Effects of the 2004 Personal Income Tax System Reform on the Shadow Sector in Ukraine," EERC Working Paper Series 06-08e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS. [Downloadable!]
  2. José Ignacio Uribe García & Javier Andrés Castro H. & Carlos Humberto Ortíz Quevedo, 2004. "¿Que Tan Segmentado Era El Mercado Laboral Colombiano En La Decada De Los Noventa?," DOCUMENTOS DE TRABAJO-CIDSE 003829, UNIVERSIDAD DEL VALLE - CIDSE. [Downloadable!]
  3. Pedro de Araujo, 2008. "The Socio-Economic Distribution of AIDS Incidence and Output," Caepr Working Papers 2008-014_updated, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Economics Department, Indiana University Bloomington. [Downloadable!]
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