IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v75y2025icp451-463.html

Digitalisation, e-Governance and the informal sector

Author

Listed:
  • Maiti, Dibyendu
  • Khari, Bhavna

Abstract

This paper shows that digitalisation does not necessarily reduce the size of informality and would depend on the rule of law and effective judicial systems. We build a simple model with heterogeneous labour markets where the formal sector firms meet the tax required for digitalisation and e-Governance for the informal transactions, avoiding the tax burden. Digitalisation that increases the chances of being caught in informal transactions directly encourages formal activities. However, it demands higher taxation, which works in the opposite direction. The relative strength of these two forces determines the size of informality, suggesting a non-linear relationship. The enforcement of minimum wage or productivity requirements may raise the size of informality. The econometric results from cross-country panel data for around 152 countries from 1990 to 2017 revealed a U-shaped relationship between informality and digitalisation. However, the negative impact gets stronger under the improved judiciary system and rule of law.

Suggested Citation

  • Maiti, Dibyendu & Khari, Bhavna, 2025. "Digitalisation, e-Governance and the informal sector," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 451-463.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:75:y:2025:i:c:p:451-463
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2025.08.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X25001365
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2025.08.007?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    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:eee:streco:v:75:y:2025:i:c:p:451-463. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    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.