Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of undeclared work in Kosovo* followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Montenegro: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Montenegro: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The Montenegrin labour market is characterized by low activity of the working age population, relatively high unemployment, particularly among the young, wide spread undeclared work and the lack of a sufficient number of new and quality jobs. Volume of undeclared work in Montenegro is significant, amounting to one third of total employment. The key purpose of this policy paper is to provide insight into the scope of the undeclared economy in Montenegro, to describe the policy measures implemented in order to tackle undeclared economy and their effectiveness. This involved both desk-based research and interviews with institutions involved in tackling the …
Evaluating Competing Theories Of Informal Sector Entrepreneurship: A Study Of The Determinants Of Cross-Country Variations In Enterprises Starting-Up Unregistered, Colin C. Williams
May 2018
Evaluating Competing Theories Of Informal Sector Entrepreneurship: A Study Of The Determinants Of Cross-Country Variations In Enterprises Starting-Up Unregistered, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
To advance understanding of the reasons for informal sector entrepreneurship, this article evaluates the determinants of
cross-country variations in the extent to which enterprises are unregistered when they start operating. Reporting the
World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 67,515 enterprises across 142 countries, the finding is that one in five (19.9%) of
the formal enterprises surveyed started-up unregistered, although this varies from all enterprises surveyed in some
countries (e.g. Pakistan) to 1% of surveyed enterprises in Slovakia. To explain these cross-country variations, four
competing theories are evaluated which variously assert that nonregistration is determined by either: economic
under-development and poorer …
Beyond The Formal Economy: Evaluating The Level Of Employment In Informal Sector Enterprises In Global Perspective, Colin C. Williams
Dec 2012
Beyond The Formal Economy: Evaluating The Level Of Employment In Informal Sector Enterprises In Global Perspective, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the varying level of employment in informal sector enterprises
across the globe and to undertake an exploratory analysis of the wider economic and social conditions
associated with greater levels of informalization. Examining International Labor Organization surveys
conducted in 43 countries, the finding is that the main job of just under one in three (31.5 percent) nonagricultural
workers is in an informal sector enterprise. Conducting an exploratory analysis of the
correlation between countries with higher levels of employment in informal sector enterprises and
economic under-development (‘modernization’ thesis), higher taxes, corruption and state interference …
Blurring The Formal/Informal Economy Divide: Beyond A Dual Economies Approach, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin
Dec 2011
Blurring The Formal/Informal Economy Divide: Beyond A Dual Economies Approach, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin
Colin C Williams
The need to integrate work beyond employment into discussions of labor practices is widely recognized. This has been so far largely achieved by adopting a dual economies perspective, which is criticized for depicting the formal and informal sectors as separate hostile worlds. To resolve this, an alternative “total social organization of labor” approach is here proposed that maintains the terms formal and informal as useful broad descriptors of different work relations, but recognizes a spectrum from purely formal to purely informal labor practices cross-cut by another spectrum from wholly monetized to wholly non-monetized labor practices. Reporting evidence from 861 face-to-face …
Jde 2012 Ghana Motives.Pdf, Colin C. Williams
Dec 2011
Jde 2012 Ghana Motives.Pdf, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
In recent years, there has been growing recognition in the entrepreneurship literature that many
entrepreneurs operate in the informal economy and that not all these informal entrepreneurs are doing
so out of economic necessity and because of a lack of choice. Instead, it has been asserted that some of
these informal entrepreneurs choose to exit the formal economy and trade on an off-the-books basis
more as a matter of choice. However, until now most research displaying this has been conducted in
advanced western and post-socialist economies. Little has been written on whether this is also the case
in third (majority) …
Re-Thinking Informal Entrepreneurship: Commercial Or Social Entrepreneurs?, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin
Dec 2011
Re-Thinking Informal Entrepreneurship: Commercial Or Social Entrepreneurs?, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin
Colin C Williams
This paper evaluates critically the assumption that entrepreneurs
who start-up their business ventures operating wholly or partially
off-the-books are engaged in commercial entrepreneurship. Reporting evidence
from a 2005–2006 survey involving face-to-face interviews with
298 informal entrepreneurs in Ukraine, the finding is that they are not all
commercially-driven. Instead, these informal entrepreneurs range from purely
rational economic actors who pursue for-profit logics through to purely social
entrepreneurs who pursue solely social logics, with the majority somewhere
in the middle of this spectrum combining both for-profit and social rationales.
The result is a call for a more nuanced understanding of the heterogeneous …
