IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2017-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Comparing estimated and self-reported mark-ups for formal and informal firms in an emerging market context

Author

Listed:
  • John Rand

Abstract

Using a 10-year panel survey covering Vietnamese manufacturing firms, we consistently obtain firm-specific mark-up estimates and relate these to firm-level formality. The average firm-specific mark-up using a trans-log revenue production function specification is estimated to be 1,445, with substantial underlying variation across firm size, location, sector, and ownership form. Zooming in on firm-level registration, we find a formality premium of 16 per cent, even when controlling for selection into formality.

Suggested Citation

  • John Rand, 2017. "Comparing estimated and self-reported mark-ups for formal and informal firms in an emerging market context," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-160, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2017-160.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tor Jakob Klette, 1999. "Market Power, Scale Economies and Productivity: Estimates from a Panel of Establishment Data," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 451-476, December.
    2. Suresh de Mel & David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2013. "The Demand for, and Consequences of, Formalization among Informal Firms in Sri Lanka," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 122-150, April.
    3. Jan De Loecker & Frederic Warzynski, 2012. "Markups and Firm-Level Export Status," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2437-2471, October.
    4. McKenzie, David & Seynabou Sakho, Yaye, 2010. "Does it pay firms to register for taxes? The impact of formality on firm profitability," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 15-24, January.
    5. Jean-Pierre Cling & Mireille Razafindrakoto & François Roubaud, 2012. "Explanatory factors behind formalizing non-farm household businesses in Vietnam," Working Papers DT/2012/20, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    6. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    7. de Mel, Suresh & McKenzie, David J. & Woodruff, Christopher, 2009. "Measuring microenterprise profits: Must we ask how the sausage is made?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 19-31, January.
    8. Jean-Pierre Cling & Mireille Razafindrakoto & François Roubaud, 2012. "To be or not to be registered? Explanatory factors behind formalizing non-farm household businesses in Vietnam," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 632-652.
    9. Klette, Tor Jakob, 1999. "Market Power, Scale Economies and Productivity: Estimates from a Panel of Establishment Data," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 451-476, December.
    10. Hall, Robert E, 1988. "The Relation between Price and Marginal Cost in U.S. Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(5), pages 921-947, October.
    11. Peter Diamond (ed.), 1990. "Growth / Productivity / Unemployment," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262041103, December.
    12. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    13. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11191 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Rand, John & Torm, Nina, 2012. "The Benefits of Formalization: Evidence from Vietnamese Manufacturing SMEs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 983-998.
    15. Robert E. Hall, 1986. "Market Structure and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 17(2), pages 285-338.
    16. Demenet, Axel & Razafindrakoto, Mireille & Roubaud, François, 2016. "Do Informal Businesses Gain From Registration and How? Panel Data Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 326-341.
    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. Axel Demenet & Quynh Hoang, 2018. "How important are management practices for the productivity of small and medium enterprises?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-69, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Axel Demenet & Quynh Hoang, 2018. "How important are management practices for the productivity of small and medium enterprises?," WIDER Working Paper Series 69, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    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. John Rand, 2017. "Comparing estimated and self-reported markups for formal and informal firms in an emerging market context," WIDER Working Paper Series 160, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Brian McCaig & Jordan Nanowski, 2019. "Business Formalisation in Vietnam," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(5), pages 805-821, May.
    3. Axel Demenet & Quynh Hoang, 2018. "How important are management practices for the productivity of small and medium enterprises?," WIDER Working Paper Series 69, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Axel Demenet & Quynh Hoang, 2018. "How important are management practices for the productivity of small and medium enterprises?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-69, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Thi Tran & Hai La, 2018. "Why do household businesses in Vietnam stay informal?," WIDER Working Paper Series 64, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Mr. Federico J Diez & Jiayue Fan & Carolina Villegas-Sánchez, 2019. "Global Declining Competition," IMF Working Papers 2019/082, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina & Díez, Federico & Fan, Jiayue, 2019. "Global Declining Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 13696, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Thi Bich Tran & Hai Anh La, 2018. "Why do household businesses in Vietnam stay informal?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-64, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Flora Bellone & Patrick Musso & Lionel Nesta & Frederic Warzynski, 2016. "International trade and firm-level markups when location and quality matter," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 67-91.
    10. Frederic Warzynski & Jan De Loecker, 2010. "Markups and Firm-level Exports," 2010 Meeting Papers 438, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Jan De Loecker & Frederic Warzynski, 2012. "Markups and Firm-Level Export Status," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2437-2471, October.
    12. De Loecker, Jan, 2011. "Recovering markups from production data," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 350-355, May.
    13. Giannis Karagiannis & Magnus Kellermann & Simon Pröll & Klaus Salhofer, 2018. "Markups and product differentiation in the German brewing sector," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 61-76, December.
    14. Giannis Karagiannis & Magnus Kellermann & Simon Pröll & Klaus Salhofer, 2018. "Markups and product differentiation in the German brewing sector," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 61-76, December.
    15. Han, Minsoo & Pyun, Ju Hyun, 2021. "Markups and income inequality: Causal links, 1975-2011," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 290-312.
    16. Mondolo, Jasmine, 2020. "Macro and microeconomic evidence on investment, factor shares, firm and labor dynamics in Italy and in Trentino," MPRA Paper 99138, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Colin C. Williams & Alvaro Martinez–Perez & Abbi M. Kedir, 2017. "Informal Entrepreneurship in Developing Economies: The Impacts of Starting up Unregistered on firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(5), pages 773-799, September.
    18. Jaumandreu, Jordi & Doraszelski, Ulrich, 2019. "Using Cost Minimization to Estimate Markups," CEPR Discussion Papers 14114, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Huu Chi Nguyen & Christophe J. Nordman & Fran�ois Roubaud, 2013. "Who Suffers the Penalty?: A Panel Data Analysis of Earnings Gaps in Vietnam," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(12), pages 1694-1710, December.
    20. Díez, Federico J. & Fan, Jiayue & Villegas-Sánchez, Carolina, 2021. "Global declining competition?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-160. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    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.