IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v111y2013i3p855-866.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of the Informal Sector on Income of the Poor in Russia

Author

Listed:
  • Yuriy Timofeyev

Abstract

This paper clarifies the social and economic effects of employment in the informal sector on the poor in Russia in recent years. The article describes the extent to which the figures for informal sector at large and unofficial employment in particular vary in different estimates and the effect they have on the average labor income of the poor. The major impact of the research consists of the development of a universal method for the estimation of the scales of labor income of the poor in the informal sector. Using the latest available data from Russian Federal State Statistics Service, this indicator is calculated for the poor and than compared with average wages in the formal sector and the subsistence minimum (official poverty line). The study concludes that the informal sector is a factor of social stability in a postsocialist transition economy, which, however, cannot alleviate poverty. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Yuriy Timofeyev, 2013. "The Effects of the Informal Sector on Income of the Poor in Russia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 855-866, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:111:y:2013:i:3:p:855-866
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-012-0037-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-012-0037-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-012-0037-5?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    2. Kolev, Alexandre, 1998. "Labour Supply in the Informal Economy in Russia during Transition," CEPR Discussion Papers 2024, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Simon Johnson & Daniel Kaufman & Andrei Shleifer, 1997. "The Unofficial Economy in Transition," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(2), pages 159-240.
    4. Bourguignon, Francois, 1979. "Decomposable Income Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 901-920, July.
    5. I. Maslova & T. Baranenkova, 2003. "Informal Employment in Russia," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 9.
    6. Anderson,James, 1998. "The size, origins, and character of Mongolia's informal sector during the transition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1916, The World Bank.
    7. Irina Merkuryeva, 2006. "Informal Employment in Russia: Combining Disadvantages and Opportunities," CERT Discussion Papers 0606, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    8. Ralitza Dimova & Ira N. Gang & John S. Landon-Lane, 2005. "The Informal Sector During Crisis and Transition," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-18, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. repec:ilo:ilowps:354173 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Chen, Martha Alter. & Jhabvala, Renana. & Lund, F. J., 2002. "Supporting workers in the informal economy : a policy framework," ILO Working Papers 993541733402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Byung–Yeon Kim, 2002. "The participation of Russian households in the informal economy: Evidence from the VTsIOM data," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 10(3), pages 689-717, November.
    12. I. Maslova & T. Baranenkova., 2003. "Informal Employment in Russia," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 9.
    13. Lemieux, Thomas & Fortin, Bernard & Frechette, Pierre, 1994. "The Effect of Taxes on Labor Supply in the Underground Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 231-254, March.
    14. Anders Åslund & Peter Boone & Simon Johnson, 1996. "How to Stabilize: Lessons from Post-communist Countries," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1), pages 217-314.
    15. Byung‐Yeon Kim, 2005. "Poverty and informal economy participation," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 13(1), pages 163-185, January.
    16. Nikopour, Hesam & Shah Habibullah, Muzafar, 2010. "Shadow Economy and Poverty," MPRA Paper 23599, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Foley, Mark C., 1997. "Multiple Job Holding in Russia During Economic Transition," Center Discussion Papers 28453, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    18. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kaliberda, Aleksander, 1996. "Integrating the unofficial economy into the dynamics of post-socialist economies : a framework of analysis and evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1691, The World Bank.
    19. Mark C. Foley, 1997. "Multiple Job Holding in Russia During Economic Transition," Working Papers 781, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    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. Thi Hong Hanh Pham, 2022. "Shadow Economy and Poverty: What Causes What?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(4), pages 861-891, December.

    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. Byung-Yeon Kim, 2011. "The Unofficial Economy in Russia," KIER Working Papers 797, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    2. Irina Merkuryeva, 2006. "Informal Employment in Russia: Combining Disadvantages and Opportunities," CERT Discussion Papers 0606, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    3. Colin C. Williams & Friedrich Schneider, 2016. "Measuring the Global Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16551.
    4. Alessandra Guariglia & Byung‐Yeon Kim, 2006. "The dynamics of moonlighting in Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 14(1), pages 1-45, March.
    5. Barry Reilly & Gorana Krstic, 2003. "Employees and second-job holding in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 11(1), pages 93-122, March.
    6. Maxim Bouev, 2005. "State Regulations, Job Search and Wage Bargaining: A Study in the Economics of the Informal Sector," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp764, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    7. Josip Franic, 2019. "Undeclared Economy in Croatia during the 2004–2017 Period: Quarterly Estimates Using the MIMIC Method," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 21(1), pages 5-46, June.
    8. Lehmann, Hartmut & Wadsworth, Jonathan & Acquisti, Alessandro, 1999. "Grime and Punishment: Job Insecurity and Wage Arrears in the Russian Federation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 595-617, December.
    9. Nguyen, Duy Loi & Nguyen, Binh Giang & Tran, Thi Ha & Vo, Thi Minh Le & Nguyen, Dinh Ngan, 2014. "Employment, Earnings and Social Protection for Female Workers in Vietnam’s Informal Sector," MPRA Paper 61989, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Bargain, Olivier & Etienne, Audrey & Melly, Blaise, 2021. "Informal pay gaps in good and bad times: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 693-714.
    11. Byung‐Yeon Kim, 2005. "Poverty and informal economy participation," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 13(1), pages 163-185, January.
    12. Ageeva Svetlana & Suslov Nikita, 2005. "Energy Consumption and GDP in Market and Transitional Economies," EERC Working Paper Series 05-05e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    13. Ceema Zahra Namazie, 2003. "The Effect of Unobservables on Labour Supply Decisions: The formal and informal sector during transition," CASE Papers case72, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    14. Klarita Gërxhani, 2004. "The Informal Sector in Developed and Less Developed Countries: A Literature Survey," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 120(3_4), pages 267-300, September.
    15. Friedrich Schneider, 2000. "Illegal activities, but still values added ones (?): size, causes, and measurement of the shadow economies all over the world," Economics working papers 2000-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    16. Theo Eicher & Till Schreiber, 2010. "Institutions and Growth: Time Series Evidence from Natural Experiments," Working Papers UWEC-2007-15-P, University of Washington, Department of Economics.
    17. Joel Slemrod & Caroline Weber, 2012. "Evidence of the invisible: toward a credibility revolution in the empirical analysis of tax evasion and the informal economy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(1), pages 25-53, February.
    18. Gasmi, Farid & Kouakou, Dorgyles & Sanni, Maruf, 2022. "The effect of firm informality on sustainable and responsible innovation in developing countries: Evidence from Nigeria," TSE Working Papers 22-1368, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    19. Friedrich Schneider & Dominik Enste, 1999. "Shadow Economies Around the World - Size, Causes, and Consequences," CESifo Working Paper Series 196, CESifo.
    20. Namazie, Ceema Zahra, 2003. "The effect of unobservables on labour supply decisions: the formal and informal sector during transition," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6329, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informal Sector; Labor income of the poor; Russia; C23; I26; I3; O17; P36;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

    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:spr:soinre:v:111:y:2013:i:3:p:855-866. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.