The Informal Economy

Chen, Martha Alter

doi:10.1177/1048291116652613

Cited by 44 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Informal economy workers in LMICs are defined as workers who fulfil two or more of the following criteria: they have (1) no written contract (2) no entitlement to annual vacations and/or (3) no social security coverage (Phe Goursat and Pellerano, 2016), (Chen, 2012). Across the world, informal economy workers engage in varied activities, from street vending, rickshaw pulling, domestic work, agricultural casual work and taxi and bus driving, as well as more established settings, such as sawmills and construction (Chen, 2016). Given the lack of contracts and social protection, and therefore lack of legal protection, they are vulnerable to social risks especially after retirement, including increased risk of poverty (Patankar and Patwardhan, 2016), (ILO, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Miti

Perkiö

Metteri

et al. 2020

IJSE

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish the main factors influencing willingness to pay for health insurance and pension schemes among informal workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Historically, informal economy workers have been excluded from social protection coverage. There is a growing need, interest and policy discourse in LMICs to extend social security to informal economy workers. However, little is known about informal workers' willingness to pay (WTP) for social security services in different LMIC settings.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a systematic review and searched five databases from 1987 to 2017. Included papers focused on “social security”, “social insurance”, “pension”, “informal economy”, “informal sector” and “informal workers” in LMICs. Authors conducted independent data appraisal and data extraction. A total of 1790 papers were identified. After exclusion, 34 papers were included in the analysis. Given the heterogeneous results, the authors performed a narrative synthesis to consolidate the findings of the different studies.FindingsIn total, 34 studies from 17 countries were included in the review, out of which 23 studies focused on health insurance, 7 studies on pension schemes and 4 studies on social security in general. The study showed that income and trust were associated with WTP for both health insurance and pension schemes. In addition, family size, age, education and residential area were common factors for both forms of social security. For health insurance, experience of sickness, attitude and presence of medical doctors as well as distance from the healthcare facility all played a role in determining WTP. For pension schemes, low and flexible contribution rates, benefit package, government subsidies and quality of administration of the schemes influenced enrolment and contributions.Research limitations/implicationsMore evidence is needed for WTP for pensions among informal workers.Practical implicationsThe findings show that socio-economic differences, scheme-type (health or pension) and level of trust influence WTP for health insurance or pension among informal sector workers. The review results suggest that the factors influencing WTP for health insurance and pensions interplay in a complex web of relations. More evidence is needed on WTP for pensions among informal workers.Social implicationsFurther studies are particularly needed on the interrelationship of the influences to WTP, including gender issues, access barriers and socioeconomic factors, among program design issues for social security.Originality/valueThis paper is based on a systematic review methodology and contributes to the discourse on extending social security to informal economy workers based on evidence from various countries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Miti

Perkiö

Metteri

et al. 2020

IJSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…However, such a negative relationship does not occur with the informal economy variable (E). Studies consider that developing economies with high levels of poverty and economic inequalities have higher levels of informal economy (E) (Chen, 2016;Dasgupta & Lloyd-Jones, 2018). On the order hand, the relationship between generalised trust (T) and the informal economy (E) is high and negatively correlated.…”

Section: Correlation Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality, social capital, and varieties of capitalism in Latin America

Bolaños

Acosta

Canal

2020

Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja

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This paper aims to research whether the varieties of capitalism impact the relationship between social capital and inequality in developed economies (coordinated and liberal economies) and Latin America (hierarchical economies) in the period from 2000 to 2016. To do that, the study uses a panel analysis of developed economies and Latin America, that is, a fixed effect panel static analysis. The model includes one dependent variable (Gini index) and ten independent variables (generalised trust, informal economy, years of schooling, union density, market capitalization, annual gross domestic product, gross domestic product per capita, health expenditure, feminine labour force, and gross capital). The findings show that the relationship between inequality and social capital is negative and significant and that hierarchical economies (Latin America) amplified such a relationship.

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“…The informal sector largely lies outside of governmental control and regulations. It is marked by increased uncertainty on the part of workers in terms of job security, wages, and workplace protections (Weil, 2009) and is often due to employers changing the nature of the working relationship (Chen, 2016). Examples of this include shifting employees to the status of independent contractors, subcontractors, and the rise of day laborers, among others (Weil, 2009).…”

Section: Cross-cutting Conference Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to a 2014 report, informal employment is over half of all non-agricultural employment across most of the developing world, and as high as 82% in South Asia (Vanek et al, 2014). While informal work is a large and varied category, informal workers are more likely to suffer work-related injuries and illnesses when compared with employees performing similar work in the formal sector (Chen, 2016).…”

Section: Cross-cutting Conference Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%