Formalización de Derechos de Propiedad en Mercados Informales: Evidencia desde las Calles[Property Rights in Informal Settings. The Street Labour Market]

Property rights affect economic performance. In the present study, we analyzed a policy of mass assignment of property rights to cuidacoches, people who are self-employed in the informal sector. Surprisingly, despite the low cost and the considerable benefits of acquiring the right to property, half the potential beneficiaries have refused to subscribe to the program. In order to understand this market ownership and mobility between the formal and informal sector, we build a base of unpublished data. Within the results, highlights four observations: the heterogeneity of the reasons to enter the informal sector of cuidacoches; protection of property rights as the main perceived benefit of passing the formal sector; aspiration to change jobs for the vast majority; reduced capacity for saving. The study concludes with guidelines for the development of a causal identification strategy to measure the potential impact of formalization as means of upward mobility in the labor market of cuidacoches.