[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/mareco/v6y2012i2p133-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Informal Economy in South Africa: Debates, Issues and Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Imraan Valodia
  • Richard Devey
Abstract
The idea of dualism in the South African economy, characterised by a ‘first’ and ‘second’ economy, has come to dominate government thinking in recent years. Using the panel component of the Labour Force Survey (LFS), we explore linkages between the formal and informal economy. Our analysis suggests that there is a high level of interaction between formal and informal work at the lower end of the labour market. At the household level too, access to stable employment in the formal economy is associated with higher levels of earning in the informal economy. Our findings have implications for poverty analysis in South Africa. Policy which views poverty as being located outside the mainstream of the economy—in the so-called ‘second economy’—is misleading. JEL Classifications : O17, O55

Suggested Citation

  • Imraan Valodia & Richard Devey, 2012. "The Informal Economy in South Africa: Debates, Issues and Policies," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 6(2), pages 133-157, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:mareco:v:6:y:2012:i:2:p:133-157
    DOI: 10.1177/097380101200600203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097380101200600203
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/097380101200600203?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andre Ligthelm, 2008. "A targeted approach to informal business development: the entrepreneurial route," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 367-382.
    2. Tokman, Victor E., 1978. "An exploration into the nature of informal--formal sector relationships," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 6(9-10), pages 1065-1075.
    3. Gerry Rodgers, 2007. "Labour Market Flexibility and Decent Work," Working Papers 47, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    4. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    5. repec:ilo:ilowps:398678 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Dasgupta, Nandini & Lloyd-Jones, Tony, 2018. "Heterogeneity and vulnerability in the urban informal economy: Reworking the problem in the current context. The case of uganda," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 10, pages 64-72.

    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. Mariano Bosch & William Maloney, 2006. "Gross Worker Flows in the Presence of Informal Labor Markets. The Mexican Experience 1987-2002," CEP Discussion Papers dp0753, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Ana Moreno-Monroy, 2012. "Critical Commentary. Informality in Space: Understanding Agglomeration Economies during Economic Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(10), pages 2019-2030, August.
    3. Martha Alter Chen, 2012. "The Informal Economy in Comparative Perspective," Chapters, in: James G. Carrier (ed.), A Handbook of Economic Anthropology, Second Edition, chapter 28, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    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. 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).
    6. N Fiess & M Fugazza & WF Maloney, 2006. "Informal Labor Markets and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," Working Papers 2006_17, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    7. Moreno-Monroy, Ana Isabel & Pieters, Janneke & Erumban, Abdul Azeez, 2012. "Subcontracting and the Size and Composition of the Informal Sector: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing," IZA Discussion Papers 6785, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Elgin, Ceyhun & Oyvat, Cem, 2013. "Lurking in the cities: Urbanization and the informal economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 36-47.
    9. Paraskevi Koufopoulou & Colin C. Williams & Athanassios Vozikis & Kyriakos Souliotis, 2019. "Shadow Economy: Definitions, terms & theoretical considerations," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(5), pages 1-3.
    10. Roberto Dell'Anno, 2022. "Theories and definitions of the informal economy: A survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1610-1643, December.
    11. Michael Grimm & Isabel Günther, 2005. "Inter- and Intra-household Linkages Between the Informal and Formal Sector: a Case Study for Urban Burkina Faso," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-14, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Jain, Varinder, 2020. "Vulnerability Exposure in Informal Manufacturing Sector A Reflection on Conceptual and Analytical Issues," MPRA Paper 103158, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Gökçer Özgür & Ceyhun Elgin & Adem Y. Elveren, 2021. "Is informality a barrier to sustainable development?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 45-65, January.
    14. Eunice Maria M. N. Dos Santos & João J. Ferreira, 2017. "Analyzing Informal Entrepreneurship: A Bibliometric Survey," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(04), pages 1-20, December.
    15. Esther Mungai & Madara Ogot, 2017. "Generic Strategies and Firm Performance: An Investigation of Informal Sector Micro-Enterprises in Kenya," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(3), pages 148-148, February.
    16. Antonio Andres & Carlyn Ramlogan-Dobson, 2011. "Is Corruption Really Bad for Inequality? Evidence from Latin America," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(7), pages 959-976.
    17. 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.
    18. Brian McCaig & Nina Pavcnik, 2015. "Informal Employment in a Growing and Globalizing Low-Income Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 545-550, May.
    19. Calderón, Valentina & Marinescu, Ioana, 2011. "The Impact of Colombia's Pension and Health Insurance Systems on Informality," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3831, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. García Cruz Gustavo Adolfo, 2008. "Informalidad regional en Colombia. Evidencia y Determinantes," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Formal; Informal; Employment; Households; Poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    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:sae:mareco:v:6:y:2012:i:2:p:133-157. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ncaer.org/ .

    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.