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Firm Heterogeneity, Informal Wage and Good Governance

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  • Sugata Marjit
  • Saibal Kar

Abstract

We provide an analysis of enforcement policies applicable to formal sector in dual labor markets. Using a framework with heterogeneous firms, endogenous determination of informal wage and politically dictated enforcement strategies, we show that firms which operate both in the formal and informal sectors do very little to increase employment when faced with the opportunity of hiring workers in the informal labor market. Thus enforcement of labor laws and other regulations should not have aggregate employment effects, particularly when workers are productively homogeneous. For firms operating exclusively in the informal sector, the outcome is different. Taxing the more productive seems to be the optimal strategy.
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  • Sugata Marjit & Saibal Kar, 2012. "Firm Heterogeneity, Informal Wage and Good Governance," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 527-539, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:16:y:2012:i:4:p:527-539
    DOI: 10.1111/rode.2012.16.issue-4
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    3. Saul Estrin & Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2012. "Shadow Economy and Entrepreneurial Entry," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 559-578, November.
    4. Sugata Marjit & Saibal Kar & Hamid Beladi, 2007. "Trade Reform and Informal Wages," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 313-320, May.
    5. Koujianou Goldberg, Pinelopi & Pavcnik, Nina, 2003. "The response of the informal sector to trade liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 463-496, December.
    6. Marjit, Sugata & Ghosh, Sudeep & Biswas, Amit, 2007. "Informality, corruption and trade reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 777-789, September.
    7. Marjit, Sugata, 2003. "Economic reform and informal wage--a general equilibrium analysis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 371-378, October.
    8. Marcouiller, Douglas & Young, Leslie, 1995. "The Black Hole of Graft: The Predatory State and the Informal Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 630-646, June.
    9. Rauch, James E., 1991. "Modelling the informal sector formally," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 33-47, January.
    10. Esfahani, Hadi Salehi & Mookherjee, Dilip, 1995. "Productivity, contracting modes, and development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 203-231, April.
    11. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Mukhopadhyay, Ujjaini, 2009. "Revisiting the Informal Sector: A General Equilibrium Approach," MPRA Paper 52135, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Kanbur, Ravi, 2009. "Conceptualising Informality: Regulation and Enforcement," IZA Discussion Papers 4186, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Sugata Marjit & Vivekananda Mukherjee & Martin Kolmar, 2006. "Poverty, taxation and governance," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 325-333.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sugata Marjit & Gouranga G. Das, 2023. "Where Have All Tech Layoffs Gone? A Model of Two Worker Types with Outsourcing," CESifo Working Paper Series 10686, CESifo.
    2. Elena Podrecca & Gianpaolo Rossini, 2015. "International Factor Mobility, Wages and Prices," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 683-694, August.
    3. Saibal Kar, 2016. "Do economic reforms hurt or help the informal labor market?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 263-263, June.
    4. Beladi, Hamid & Dutta, Meghna & Kar, Saibal, 2016. "FDI and Business Internationalization of the Unorganized Sector: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 340-349.
    5. Marjit, Sugata & Mishra, Suryaprakash & Mitra, Sandip, 2021. "Tax evasion by tax deferment: Sham litigation with an informal credit market," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Luz Adriana Florez, 2015. "The Search and Matching Equilibrium in an Economy with an Informal Sector: A Positive Analysis of Labour Market Policies," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, August.
    7. Sugata Marjit & Biswajit Mandal, 2016. "International Trade, Migration and Unemployment – The Role of Informal Sector," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 8-22, March.
    8. Marjit, Sugata & Das, Gouranga G., 2023. "Where have all Tech Layoffs gone? A Model of Two Worker Types with Outsourcing," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1338, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Saibal Kar & Sarmistha Banerjee, 2022. "Pollution Abatement and Production Outsourcing in India," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 83-97, March.
    10. Sudeshna Mitra & Kausik Gupta, 2017. "Fragmentation, Skill Formation And International Capital Mobility," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(02), pages 335-350, March.
    11. Beladi Hamid & Oladi Reza, 2017. "Technology Diffusion and Trade Liberalization," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 1-15, April.
    12. Mandal, Biswajit, 2009. "Would Recession Induce More Intermediation in the Corrupt Informal Sector?," MPRA Paper 19930, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Jan 2010.
    13. Dutta, Nabamita & Kar, Saibal & Stivers, Adam, 2023. "Does Economic Freedom Moderate Perceived Corruption for Firms in India?," IZA Discussion Papers 16484, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Saibal Kar & Meghna Dutta, 2018. "Outsourcing and Productivity During Economic Crisis: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Firms," Arthaniti: Journal of Economic Theory and Practice, , vol. 17(2), pages 168-182, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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