Economic Transformation Outside the Law: Corruption, Trust in Public Institutions and the Informal Economy in Transition Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Wallace, Claire; Latcheva, Rossalina

doi:10.1080/09668130500401707

Cited by 186 publications

(116 citation statements)

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“…Over the past decade or so, a burgeoning literature has drawn attention to the prevalence of the informal economy across the globe (ILO, 2013;Jütting and Laiglesia, 2009;Schneider and Williams, 2013) and its important role in helping people get-by Wallace and Latcheva, 2006;Williams et al, 2013). With some estimates suggesting that 60% of the global workforce have their main job in the informal economy (Jütting and Laiglesia, 2009), tackling the informal economy is now a key issue on the policy agenda of supranational agencies and governments across the globe (European Commission, 2007;ILO, 2014;OECD, 2014;Williams, 2014a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining participation in the informal economy: An institutional incongruence perspective

Williams

Horodnic

Windebank

2015

International Sociology

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Drawing inspiration from institutional theory, a small sub-stream of literature has proposed that participation in the informal economy arises from the lack of alignment of a society's formal institutions (i.e., its codified laws and regulations) with its informal institutions (i.e., the norms, values and beliefs of its population). To further advance this explanation, this paper reports a 2013 Eurobarometer survey involving 27,563 face-to-face interviews across 28 European countries. The finding is that there is a strong association between the degree to which formal and informal institutions are unaligned and participation in the informal economy. The greater is the asymmetry between the formal and informal institutions, the more likely is participation in the informal economy at both the individual-, population groupand country-level. A new policy approach for tackling the informal economy which focuses upon reducing this institutional incongruence is then discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining participation in the informal economy: An institutional incongruence perspective

Williams

Horodnic

Windebank

2015

International Sociology

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“…Despite the fact that corruption is a common practice in many countries, it would be a mistake to consider the phenomenon itself as part of the manners and customs (Tanzi, 1998;Treisman, 2000;Montinola & Jackman, 2002;Seligson, 2002;Graeff & Mehlkop, 2003;Wallace & Latcheva, 2006). …”

Section: Measures and Policies On Transparencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Corruption and Illegal Payments in Greece

Zacharakis¹,

Antonopoulou²,

Travlos³

et al. 2017

JPMR

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The phenomenon of corruption is global and extends in many areas of the public sector. However, in Greece it appears to be socially acceptable since in the case of illegal benefits and pensions, the corruption of the public officials takes place with the collaboration of the ISSN 2377-3294 2017 citizens who receive such pensions and allowances. It should be noted that in Greece the phenomenon has not been fully recorded since the only information available can be derived from the Press due to the publicity that such cases take and because of the large sums of money involved and the great damage they cause to the public sector. The fact is that this phenomenon is an important proof for the social fostering of corruption and that it is motivated by the pursuit of illicit enrichment both by the public officials and the citizens. Journal of Public Management Research

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“…A large body of literature now exists on the extent and nature of undeclared work in Baltic nations (e.g., Henckel et al, 2008;Pavlovskaya, 2004;Persson and Malmer, 2006;Surdej, 2005;Williams, and Round, 2007) and other regions beyond (e.g., Bajada and Schneider 2005;Schneider 2008;Wallace and Latcheva 2006;Williams and Windebank, 1998). Few studies, however, have analysed the issue of envelope wages.…”

Section: Previous Research On Envelope Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The prevalence of envelope wages in the Baltic Sea region

Williams

2009

Baltic Journal of Management

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PurposeThis paper evaluates the prevalence of an illegitimate wage arrangement in the former Soviet Baltic states whereby formal employers pay their formal employees both an official declared wage as well as a supplementary undeclared ('envelope') wage. MethodologyA 2007 Eurobarometer survey is reported that evaluates envelope wage practices in 27 EU member states. This paper focuses upon the 4,031 face-to-face interviews conducted in the four former Soviet Baltic republics that are now member states of the EU, namely Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. FindingsSome 1 in 8 formal employees in these former Soviet Baltic republics received an undeclared 'envelope' wage from their formal employer during the past 12 months which on average amounted to 45% of their gross wage packet. Although this practice is concentrated in smaller businesses, the construction industry, and amongst younger people, manual workers and lower income groups in these former Sovet Baltic states, it is by no means confined to specific pockets of the economic landscape. Rather, it exists throughout these countries in all business types and employee groups. Research implicationsThe existence and commonality of envelope wages reveals the need to transcend the dichotomous depiction of formal and informal jobs as always separate and discrete and to recognise how they can be inextricably interwoven. Practical implicationsThis paper outlines a range of potential policy measures for tackling envelope wages and calls for their piloting and evaluation. OriginalityThe first cross-national evaluation of the incidence and nature of envelope wages in the former Soviet Baltic states and what needs to be done to tackle this practice. Research Paper

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Economic Transformation Outside the Law: Corruption, Trust in Public Institutions and the Informal Economy in Transition Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Cited by 186 publications

References 12 publications

Explaining participation in the informal economy: An institutional incongruence perspective

Explaining participation in the informal economy: An institutional incongruence perspective

Corruption and Illegal Payments in Greece

The prevalence of envelope wages in the Baltic Sea region

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