“…Even though formal MSEs may enjoy the benefits associated with contracts enforcement by the government (Schreiner & Woller, 2003), when the procedures to join the formal sector are cumbersome, costly, or when the country's legal framework is de facto ineffective, people will have fewer incentives to opt joining the formal economic sector (de Soto, 1987;Johnson, Kaufmann, Shleifer, Goldman & Weitzman, 1997;Friedman, Johnson, Kaufmann, & Zoido-Lobaton, 2000;Djankov, La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes & Shleifer, 2002). Therefore, informal MSEs avoid formal requirements like official registration and bear the cost of informality such as exclusion from accessing government programs or formal funding sources.…”