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Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Albania: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams Dec 2018

Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Albania: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of the undeclared economy in Albania. Based on desk-research and interviews with various stakeholders, this report sets the scene for a strategy and action plan for tackling undeclared work in Albania, presented in a separate document.


Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, Colin C. Williams Nov 2018

Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

This study evaluates the prevalence, distribution and characteristics of undeclared work in the agricultural, forestry and fishing sector (henceforth ‘agricultural sector’) in the EU and how this can be tackled. To do so, the prevalence, distribution and characteristics of undeclared work in the agricultural sector, along with its systemic drivers, are analysed. This analysis then provides the evidence base for an analysis of how undeclared work can be tackled. To identify how to achieve this, an analysis is undertaken of the legislative and institutional frameworks, of the policy approaches for tackling undeclared work in the agricultural sector, and an evidence-based …


Explaining And Tackling Under-Declared Employment In Fyr Macedonia: The Employers Perspective, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi Oct 2018

Explaining And Tackling Under-Declared Employment In Fyr Macedonia: The Employers Perspective, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi

Colin C Williams

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how employers who illegally under-report their employees’ salaries to
evade paying the full tax and social contributions owed can be explained and tackled. These employers have
been conventionally explained as rational economic actors doing so when the benefits outweigh the costs,
and thus the solution is to increase the sanctions and/or probability of detection. An alternative social actor
approach, however, explains employers as under-reporting salaries because of their lack of both vertical trust
(i.e., their beliefs are not in symmetry with the laws and regulations) and horizontal trust (i.e., they believe
many …


Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union: Input Paper To Thematic Discussion Of European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams Oct 2018

Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union: Input Paper To Thematic Discussion Of European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The under-declaration of work ranges from employers using unregistered employees, through the under-declaration of income by the formal self-employed and formal businesses, to the misuse of collaborative platforms and the digital economy to conceal the full amount of incomes and social security due.
The objective of this thematic discussion on under-declared employment in the European Union is: (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about under-declared employment, and (iii) to explore how the Platform activities can contribute to tackling under-declared employment.
The intention is to focus upon two types of under-declaring work: …


Does Trust Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Social Actor Approach, Colin C. Williams Aug 2018

Does Trust Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Social Actor Approach, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

In recent decades, a burgeoning literature has brought out of the shadows the magnitude of the undeclared economy. This reveals that the undeclared economy is a persistent feature of contemporary economies. With the equivalent of 17.9 per cent of GDP not declared to the authorities in the European Union in 2016 [1], undeclared work representing 14.3 per cent of gross value added in the private sector in 2013 [2] and 4 per cent of EU28 citizens conducting undeclared work [3], tackling the undeclared economy is not some minor issue. Addressing this practice is important. This is not only because of …


Explaining Informal Sector Entrepreneurship In Kosovo: An Institutionalist Perspective, Colin C. Williams May 2018

Explaining Informal Sector Entrepreneurship In Kosovo: An Institutionalist Perspective, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Institutional theory has been widely used to explain entrepreneurship in the informal economy.
A first wave of institutionalist theory argued that informal entrepreneurship resulted from formal
institutional failures and a second wave that such entrepreneurship results from an asymmetry
between the laws and regulations of formal institutions and the unwritten socially shared rules of
informal institutions. This paper evaluates the validity of these two waves of institutionalist explanation
and a new third wave of institutional theory explaining informal entrepreneurship in terms
of a lack of both vertical and horizontal trust. Reporting data from a 2013 survey in Kosovo
involving 500 …


Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns, Colin C. Williams May 2018

Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

1.          Introduction
The aim of this study is to review the range of preventative approaches for tackling undeclared work available to Member States, and to focus upon two types of preventative measure, namely service vouchers and the use of awareness raising campaigns.
2.          Rationales for a preventative approach
·       The rationale for a preventative approach is to shift away from resolving problems after they have occurred towards preventing non-compliance in the first place.
·       Article 1 of Decision (EU) 2016/3441, establishing the Platform, explicitly encourages such a preventative approach. It states that ‘”tackling”, in relation to undeclared work, means preventing, …


Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns: Outputs From Plenary Discussion Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams Apr 2018

Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns: Outputs From Plenary Discussion Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The fourth Plenary meeting of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work was held in Brussels on 8-9 March 2018. The first day of this meeting was dedicated to the topic of the preventative approach towards tackling undeclared work, with a focus upon service vouchers and awareness raising. This report summarises the discussions at the meeting, drawing also on the forthcoming study on this topic which has been developed as part of the Platform’s work programme


2018 European Platform Undeclared Work Survey Report: Obstacles To Tackling Undeclared Work At The Cross-Border And National Levels, Bilateral And National Agreements, And Complaint Reporting Tools, Colin C. Williams Apr 2018

2018 European Platform Undeclared Work Survey Report: Obstacles To Tackling Undeclared Work At The Cross-Border And National Levels, Bilateral And National Agreements, And Complaint Reporting Tools, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Responses were received from 45 authorities with responsibilities for tackling undeclared work in 25 Member States (MS), most of whom were labour inspectorates or Ministries of Labour. The issues covered: obstacles to tackling undeclared work at the cross-border and national levels; the use of bilateral and multilateral agreements, and the use of complaint reporting tools in Member States


Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns - Input Paper To Thematic Discussion, Colin C. Williams Apr 2018

Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns - Input Paper To Thematic Discussion, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

The objective of the thematic discussion on preventative measures for tackling undeclared work, focusing on both service vouchers and awareness raising campaigns, is (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about these preventative measures, and (iii) to explore how the Platform activities can contribute to developing a preventative approach towards undeclared work.
This thematic discussion will focus attention on three key issues. In Part 1, we will address an issue everyone is aware of but until now has not been discussed, namely why preventative measures are not commonly used in Member States …


Explaining Cross-Country Variations In The Prevalence Of Informal Sector Competitors: Lessons From The World Bank Enterprise Survey, Colin C. Williams Apr 2018

Explaining Cross-Country Variations In The Prevalence Of Informal Sector Competitors: Lessons From The World Bank Enterprise Survey, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

To advance understanding of informal sector entrepreneurship, the aim of this
paper is to evaluate and explain the cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal
sector competitors. To do so, World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data is reported
from 142 countries. This reveals that 27% of formal enterprises view competition from the
informal sector as a major constraint on their operations, although this varies from 72%of
formal enterprises in Chad to no formal enterprises in El Salvador. To explain these crosscountry
variations, four competing theories are evaluated which variously view informal
sector entrepreneurship and enterprise to bemore prevalent when there …


Starting-Up Unregistered And Firm Performance In Turkey, Colin C. Williams Mar 2018

Starting-Up Unregistered And Firm Performance In Turkey, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Recent years have seen a questioning of the negative representation of
informal sector entrepreneurship and an emergent view that it may offer significant
benefits. This paper advances this rethinking by evaluating the relationship between
business registration and future firm performance. Until now, the assumption has been
that starting-up unregistered is linked to weaker firm performance. Using World Bank
Enterprise Survey data on 2494 formal enterprises in Turkey, and controlling for other
determinants of firm performance as well as the endogeneity of the registration
decision, the finding is that formal enterprises that started-up unregistered and spent
longer unregistered have significantly higher …


Do Deterrents Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Rational Economic Actor Approach, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams Jan 2018

Do Deterrents Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Rational Economic Actor Approach, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Across the member states of the European Union and beyond, paid transactions occur that are not declared to the state for tax, social security and/or labour law purposes when they should be declared. This is not a minority practice. The undeclared economy is estimated to be equivalent to 17.9 per cent of the EU28 GDP in 2016. Similarly, it is estimated that 9.3 per cent of total labour input in the private sector in the EU28 is undeclared and that undeclared work constitutes on average 14.3 per cent of gross value added in the private sector. Furthermore, in 2013, 4 …